Frank Lloyd Wright House Opens to Crystal Bridges Members for Preview Tours

Nancy Nolan Photography

The dining area of the Bachman-Wilson House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. (Courtesy Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas)

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — In late August, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville announced that the Frank Lloyd Wright house being reassembled on the museum grounds would open to the public on Nov. 11, the fourth anniversary of the museum's opening.

Museum members, however, will have an opportunity to preview the Bachman-Wilson House in advance of the public opening, starting this Saturday, Oct. 10, and running through Nov. 9.

Architecture students in the Fay Jones School of Architecture and Design at the University of Arkansas designed and built a Welcome Pavilion, a structure that serves as an entryway to the site of the Bachman-Wilson House. Students also researched Wright's residential design work and created an interpretive model and produced other materials that are part of this architectural exhibit.

The model is located just inside the museum's south entrance. The pavilion features information on Wright, several of his buildings and Usonian architecture in general, as well as the history of the Bachman-Wilson House itself.

In 2014, the museum announced the acquisition of the Wright house, originally built in 1954 along the Millstone River in New Jersey. The 1,700-square-foot house was then disassembled, transported 1,200 miles to Arkansas and reassembled on the museum grounds.

Wright's protégé was Fay Jones, an Arkansas native, who inspired Moshe Safdie's design of Crystal Bridges. All three architects were awarded the American Institute of Architects' Gold Medal - considered to be the profession's highest honor. Both Wright and Jones challenged traditional ideas of building by connecting their structures to the typography of their environment, and these structures influenced Safdie to integrate Crystal Bridges into its natural surroundings. 

The Bachman-Wilson House will open to the public on Nov. 11, with no admission cost and available during the same hours as the museum's art galleries. Due to the intimate size of the house, reserved tickets are required for tours.

The grounds around the house will be accessible without a ticket.

Beginning Nov. 2, tickets may be reserved online or by calling 479-657-2335.

Members of Crystal Bridges will have an opportunity to preview the house in advance of the November public opening. Members may reserve preview tickets in person at Guest Services or by calling the Member Priority Line at 479-418-5728. Preview tickets are not available online.

More information about Wright and the Bachman-Wilson House is available on the Crystal Bridges website.

Crystal Bridges' Library also collaborated with the University of Arkansas Libraries' Special Collections to create an online exhibition, Fay Jones and Frank Lloyd Wright: Organic Architecture Comes to Arkansas, which explores the intersection of the two notable architects with nearly 150 photographs, letters, newspaper articles, and other ephemera.