See Frank Lloyd Wright’s Final Design, Revealed for the Very First Time| Blog

Over the course of four episodes, viewers of The Last Wright have watched Frank Lloyd Wright’s last design come to life, as mother-daughter team Debbie and Sarah Dykstra built a home based on a long-lost set of plans by the legendary architect. Tonight at 8 p.m. ET on Magnolia Network, fans will get to see the completed house revealed. Wright’s design for a Usonian house he called Project #5909 had been on his drawing board when he died in 1959. The dwelling was meant for his client Louis Penfield, who already had one home designed by Wright (built in 1953) on his property in Willoughby Hills, Ohio. When the Dykstras bought the land in 2018, they decided to make Project #5909—now known as RiverRock House—a reality. Each of the four episodes of The Last Wright takes viewers inside the process by which this project came to fruition, and in case anyone thinks it might be easy to take on a construction project like this, they’re in for a bit of a shock.

The season follows Sarah and Debbie’s journey from deciding to serve as the general contractors on the project to navigating the requirements of the local architectural review board under the guidance of Joseph L. Myers and Rob Shearer. Along the way, the steel truck is delayed, finding river rocks of the right sizes and shapes proves more complicated than you’d expect, and the custom concrete floors (in a classic Frank Lloyd Wright red, naturally) seem to resist all efforts to finish and seal them in time for the next wave of craftsmen to begin their work. The pair get expert encouragement from Fallingwater’s director, Justin Gunther, and architect Bing Hu, a graduate of Taliesin West, Wright’s school of architecture. Like Debbie and Sarah, Bing Hu and his daughter, architectural designer Amanda Hu, worked together on a Frank Lloyd Wright project: They restored the 1952 David and Gladys Wright House in Arizona. There’s also a revelatory moment when Shearer shows Debbie and Sarah an architectural Easter egg having to do with the unusually precise physical orientation of the RiverRock House: Without giving too much away, let’s just say that it proves Frank Lloyd Wright was a designer well ahead of his time.

The Last Wright

RiverRock House in Willoughby Hills, Ohio, completed by Sarah and Debbie Dykstra 65 years after Frank Lloyd Wright drew the original plans.

The Last Wright

The fireplace in the living room at RiverRock House. “Frank Lloyd Wright referred to the fireplace as the heart of the home,” Sarah says.

The Last Wright

RiverRock House’s dining table and chairs were custom-made by Debbie’s high school friend Jeff Myers. It took Debbie 27 hours to tape and paint the red cutouts on the chairbacks.

The Last Wright

A vintage globe and an antique quilt add color to the primary bedroom, and wraparound windows provide expansive views of the landscape. Sarah says this bedroom is “everyone’s favorite.”

The Last Wright

Sarah says that the kitchen, though compact, has successfully hosted parties for nearly 50 people. “The vintage appliances are a hit with everyone,” she says.