Norman Lykes House

{{Infobox building

| name = Norman Lykes House

| alternate_names = Circular Sun House

| image = Norman Lykes House, 2010 (cropped and adjusted).jpg

| address = 6836 North 36th Street

| location_town = Phoenix, Arizona

| location_country = United States

| coordinates = {{Coord|33.5387|N|112.0030|W|region:US-AZ_type:landmark|display=it}}

| completion_date = 1967

| architect = Frank Lloyd Wright, John Rattenbury

| floor_area = {{Cvt|3095|ft2}}

| floor_count = 2 (+1 basement)

| architectural_style = Organic architecture

| client = Norman and Aimee Lykes

| ren_architect = John Rattenbury

| renovation_date = 1994

}}

The Norman Lykes House (also known as the Circular Sun House) is a residence at 6836 North 36th Street in the Biltmore Area of Phoenix, Arizona, United States. Designed in 1959 by the architect Frank Lloyd Wright in an organic style, the two-story house was completed in 1967 by his onetime apprentice John Rattenbury of Taliesin Associated Architects. As built, the structure contained five bedrooms. The Lykes family sold the house in the early 1990s to Linda Melton, who hired Rattenbury to renovate the house and combine the bedrooms into three. After Melton's death, the building was placed for sale in 2016, though it was not sold for three years. The new owner placed the house for sale in 2020, and the house again remained unsold for several years.

The house, occupying {{Convert|1+1/3|acre|ha}} on the slope of a mountain, consists of a circular main section, a curved wing and a curved courtyard. It is one of 14 circular residences that Wright designed, as well as one of six that he designed around Phoenix. The facade is made primarily of rose-tinted concrete, with steel casement windows and geometric cutouts. Inside, the house has {{Convert|3095|ft2}}, with living spaces on the main level, an entertainment room in the basement, and three bedrooms on the second story.

History

The two-story home was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his clients Norman and Aimee Lykes in 1959, shortly before Wright died.{{cite web |date=September 16, 2019 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Lykes House for Sale |url=https://franklloydwright.org/update-frank-lloyd-wright-designed-lykes-house-for-sale-by-no-reserve-auction/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation}}{{cite web |last=Sisson |first=Patrick |date=January 14, 2016 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Final Home For Sale, Asks $3.6M |url=https://archive.curbed.com/2016/1/14/10846674/frank-lloyd-wright-home-for-sale-norman-lykes-house |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Curbed}} Nicknamed the Circular Sun House,{{cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Katherine |date=January 19, 2023 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Stunning Final Design Relists for $8.9 Million |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/frank-lloyd-wrights-circular-sun-house-relists |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Architectural Digest}} it was the last house Wright ever designed. Wright selected the site because of its location overlooking Palm Canyon, designing sketches based on the location.{{cite web |last=Eastman |first=Janet |date=March 8, 2016 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's round house listed for $3.6 million (photos) |url=https://www.oregonlive.com/hg/2016/03/frank_lloyd_wright_phoenix_cir.html |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=The Oregonian}} Wright's apprentice John Rattenbury wrote that Wright had sketched out a plan for two overlapping circles before walking out of his Taliesin West studio in Scottsdale; within two days, he had been hospitalized.{{cite news |date=June 2, 2017 |title=Iconic architect's designs remain intriguing as ever; Frank Lloyd Wright was born 150 years ago |work=Sarnia Observer |page=C.2 |id={{ProQuest|2226549206}}}}{{cite book |last=Rattenbury |first=John |title=A Living Architecture: Frank Lloyd Wright and Taliesin Architects |date=2000 |publisher=Pomegranate |isbn=978-0-7649-1366-2 |page=}}{{rp|pages=247, 250}} After Wright's death, the Lykes family hired Rattenbury to take over the design, which was finished in 1967.{{Efn|The author William Allin Storrer gives an alternative date of 1968.}} The Lykes family used the house for three decades afterward. At one point, the house was used as a dormitory for apprentices studying at Taliesin West.{{cite web |last=Block |first=Fang |date=January 16, 2018 |title=Last House Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright Hits Market for $3.25M |url=https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/last-house-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-hits-market-for-3-25m-85964 |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Mansion Global}}

The Lykes family sold the house in 1992,{{cite web |date=February 3, 2016 |title=Historic Frank Lloyd Wright house up for sale in the valley |url=https://www.fox10phoenix.com/news/historic-frank-lloyd-wright-house-up-for-sale-in-the-valley |access-date=April 3, 2025 |publisher=FOX 10 Phoenix}} 1993,{{rp|page=250}} or 1994 to Linda Melton, who paid $500,000 for the building. Melton had reportedly wanted to own a Wright–designed home for years; according to Mansion Global magazine, she called the house's real-estate agent after driving past the Lykes House and seeing that it was for sale. Rattenbury was hired to redesign the interior in 1994, adding a home media room within a former workshop space, as well as increasing the master bedroom's size. In addition, two of the bedrooms were merged into a single guest room, and a new heating, ventilation, and air conditioning system was installed.{{Cite news |last=Keeran |first=James |date=October 9, 1994 |title=Architect finds Wright career in Arizona |work=The Scotsman |page=D1 |id={{ProQuest|252082360}}}} The original windows were replaced with movable panels to allow ventilation, while a swimming pool was built within a courtyard. The project, which took two years, also involved restoring the remaining rooms to their 1967 appearance. The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation which operated Taliesin West, approved all the modifications.{{cite web |last=Reagor |first=Catherine |date=December 31, 2017 |title=Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house for sale in Phoenix: $3.25M |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2017/12/31/last-house-frank-lloyd-wright-ever-designed-up-sale-phoenix-3-2-m/984600001/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic}} Ron Steege oversaw the renovation, which cost between $300,000 and $400,000.

Melton's daughter, Julie Franks, later said that fans of Wright's work from around the world would travel to their house, sometimes in the middle of the night. Following Melton's death, the Lykes House was placed for sale in 2016 for approximately $3.6 million. The house remained on sale for two years, but no one made an offer for the building, prompting its owner to reduce the asking price in 2018.{{cite web |last=Ro |first=Lauren |date=January 2, 2018 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's final home going back on the market for $3.25M |url=https://archive.curbed.com/2018/1/2/16841252/frank-lloyd-wright-norman-lykes-phoenix-sale |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Curbed}}{{cite web |last=Ayoubi |first=Ayda |date=January 23, 2018 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright–Designed Norman Lykes House is Back on the Market |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/buildings/frank-lloyd-wrightdesigned-norman-lykes-house-is-back-on-the-market_o |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Architect}} Its asking price was reduced again the next year after the revised sale price still failed to attract buyers.{{cite web |date=September 27, 2019 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Final Residential Project Up For Auction |url=https://www.architectmagazine.com/design/frank-lloyd-wrights-final-residential-project-up-for-auction_o |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Architect}} According to its brokers, relatively few people knew about the house before it was listed for sale, even among those who wanted to buy it at the time.{{cite web |date=January 11, 2018 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright house, once listed for $2.6 million, headed for auction |url=https://www.12news.com/article/news/local/valley/frank-lloyd-wright-house-once-auction-norman-lykes/75-ff99de54-b798-4355-8047-3dfa1d7ebf10 |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=12news.com}} The lack of bids prompted its brokers to auction the house off in late 2019,{{cite web |last=Locke |first=Taylor |date=October 1, 2019 |title=The final home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright will go up for auction |url=https://www.cnbc.com/2019/10/01/photos-final-home-designed-by-frank-lloyd-wright-to-go-up-for-auction.html |access-date=April 3, 2025 |publisher=CNBC}} with nearly 20 bidders expressing interest in the building.{{cite web |last1=Burn |first1=Pete |last2=Wolfe |first2=Elizabeth |date=November 7, 2019 |title=The last home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright sells for $1.67 million |url=https://www.cnn.com/style/article/frank-lloyd-wright-auction-trnd/index.html |access-date=April 3, 2025 |publisher=CNN}}

Ultimately, the house was sold in October 2019 to Kamyar Kakinma, who paid $1.627 million.{{cite web |last=Reagor |first=Catherine |date=December 5, 2019 |title=Phoenix home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright sells for $1.627M |url=https://www.azcentral.com/story/money/real-estate/catherine-reagor/2019/12/05/phoenix-home-designed-frank-lloyd-wright-sells-1-627-m/2618458001/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=azcentral.com and The Arizona Republic}} The new owner planned to use it as a vacation home,{{cite web |last=Barber |first=Megan |date=September 16, 2020 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Sold Last Year For $1.7M, Now Asks $8M. Huh? |url=https://archive.curbed.com/2020/9/16/21439851/frank-lloyd-wright-norman-lykes-house-for-sale-phoenix |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Curbed}}{{cite web |last=Tang |first=Terry |date=October 16, 2019 |title=APNewsBreak: Wright-designed home sold for nearly $1.7M |url=https://apnews.com/general-news-4dcd0bd35bab49f680eb2cc66ea4550a |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=AP News}} but this did not occur, and the owner began renting out the building in early 2020. The house was listed for sale again in 2020, with an asking price of nearly $8 million.{{Cite web |last=Montanez |first=Abby |date=December 20, 2023 |title=You Can Now Buy a Fraction of a Frank Lloyd Wright House for $1.5 Million |url=https://robbreport.com/shelter/homes-for-sale/frank-lloyd-wright-norman-lykes-house-fractional-ownership-1235452342/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Robb Report |language=en-US}} It was still unsold two years later,{{cite web |last=Hendrickson |first=V.L. |date=January 24, 2023 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Circular Sun House in Phoenix Lists for $8.95 Million |url=https://www.mansionglobal.com/articles/frank-lloyd-wrights-circular-sun-house-in-phoenix-lists-for-8-95-million-01674586119 |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Mansion Global}} prompting its real-estate agent to propose that the house be sold to a partnership of as many as six people.{{Cite web |last=McLaughlin |first=Katherine |date=December 18, 2023 |title=Would You Buy This Iconic Frank Lloyd Wright Home With Five Strangers? |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/frank-lloyd-wrights-final-residential-design-fractional-ownership |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Architectural Digest |language=en-US}} {{As of|2025}}, the house was being rented out through Airbnb.{{cite web |last1=Hansen |first1=Kristine |first2=Nora |last2=Taylor |first3=Erika |last3=Owen |title=15 Frank Lloyd Wright-Designed Houses You Can Rent for Your Next Vacation |website=Architectural Digest |date=March 30, 2023 |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/gallery/frank-lloyd-wright-designed-airbnbs |access-date=April 4, 2025}}

Description

The Lykes House is located at 6836 North 36th Street in Phoenix, Arizona, United States,{{cite web |last=Gonzales |first=Angela |date=November 8, 2021 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright 'Circular Sun House' in Phoenix waiting for a buyer |url=https://www.abc15.com/news/business/frank-lloyd-wright-circular-sun-house-in-phoenix-waiting-for-a-buyer |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=ABC15 Arizona in Phoenix (KNXV)}} within the Biltmore Area. Built in an organic architectural style, the house is one of 14 houses with a circular plan that Frank Lloyd Wright designed. It is also one of six houses that Wright designed around Phoenix, the others being those of the Adelman, Boomer, Carlson, and Price families and his son David.{{Cite news |last=Corbett |first=Peter |date=June 4, 2008 |title=Wright-designed homes rare in Valley |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-wright-designed-hom/169509246/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |work=The Arizona Republic |pages=230}} By 2012, there were four remaining buildings designed by Wright in Phoenix, and nine such buildings in Arizona.{{Cite news |last=Haldiman |first=Philip |date=September 21, 2012 |title=Wright House moves closer to reprieve from demolition |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-wright-house-moves/163418098/ |work=Arizona Republic |pages=Z6, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-wright-house-moves/163418121/ Z8] |id={{ProQuest|1137008409}}}}

The layout is based on an earlier design that Wright had designed in 1959 for Harvey Furgatch, a developer in San Diego.{{Cite news |last=Showley |first=Roger |date=October 10, 2015 |title=Wright apprentices, sons focus of exhibit |work=TCA Regional News |id={{ProQuest|1721146268}}}} The building has similar design features to some of Wright's other curved structures, such as David's house, as well as the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. Although Wright was responsible for the initial design, his onetime apprentice John Rattenbury, an architect for Taliesin Associated Architects, oversaw the completion of the building and is listed as the architect of record.{{Cite Wright Companion |page=466}} (S.466) In contrast to many of Wright's other designs, which are protected as official landmarks, the house is not listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

= Exterior =

File:Norman Lykes House (December 2019).jpg

The Lykes House occupies a {{Convert|1+1/3|acre|m2|adj=on}} site and is built on the slope of a mountain.{{cite web |date=June 3, 2021 |title=Inside The $8M Circular Sun House By Frank Lloyd Wright |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/video/watch/on-the-market-inside-the-$8m-circular-sun-house-by-frank-lloyd-wright |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Architectural Digest}}{{cite web |last=Fox |first=Danielle |date=January 4, 2018 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright's Final Home Hits The Market |url=https://www.elledecor.com/celebrity-style/luxury-real-estate/a14751504/frank-lloyd-wright-final-home/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=ELLE Decor}} In keeping with Wright's preference for organic architecture, the house was designed to blend in with the landscape. The general plan, as seen from overhead, consists of several overlapping circles, which were drawn around five distinct geometric centers. A curving wing splits off the circular main section of the house.{{Cite news |last=Williams |first=Leslie |date=October 2, 1983 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright: How well does genius age? |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic-frank-lloyd-wright/169505292/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |work=The Arizona Republic |pages=3, [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic/150745240/ 4], [https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-arizona-republic/150745398/ 46]}}{{Cite book |last=Pfeiffer |first=Bruce Brooks |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=g7NAo1RYne4C |title=Frank Lloyd Wright, 1867–1959: Building for Democracy |date=2004 |publisher=Taschen |isbn=978-3-8228-2757-4 |page=83 |language=en}} There is a large circular courtyard with a lawn and terrace just outside the main house, surrounded by a parapet. Circular and triangular cutouts are placed along the parapet.{{cite web |last=Guillen |first=Darla |date=January 18, 2016 |title=The last home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright hits the market at $3.6M |url=https://www.thehour.com/news/article/The-last-home-designed-by-Frank-Lloyd-Wright-hits-6769501.php |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Norwalk Hour}} A crescent-shaped pool is located within the courtyard, surrounded by a patio with mother-of-pearl tiles.{{Cite news |date=September 28, 2019 |title=Final home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright to go to auction in Phoenix |work=The Calgary Sun |id={{ProQuest|2298998477}}}} Wright, who disliked garages, built a simpler carport accessed by a curving driveway. In addition, he built a storage shed next to the house.

The structure is made primarily of rose-tinted concrete. Unlike Wright's other designs, which tended to face inward or away from crowded areas, the building's windows face Downtown Phoenix to the south. The facade contains steel casement windows, which were arranged so that the house's occupants could see the valley below. Spread across the facade are half-moon-shaped lunette windows. The windows are topped by ledges to prevent large amounts of sunlight from heating up the house's interior, and there is a glass wall facing the patio and pool area.

= Interior =

The house has three bedrooms and three bathrooms, spread across {{Convert|3095|ft2}}. When the house was built, it had five bedrooms, some of which were characterized as being similar in size to a closet.{{cite web |last=Dangremond |first=Sam |date=January 4, 2018 |title=Frank Lloyd Wright Norman Lykes House In Phoenix For Sale |url=https://www.townandcountrymag.com/leisure/real-estate/g14745360/frank-lloyd-wright-norman-lykes-house-phoenix-sale/ |access-date=April 3, 2025 |website=Town & Country}} Two of the bedrooms have been removed or combined with other spaces over the years, as Wright had intended for the walls to be relocated or removed for flexibility. The interior is decorated with Philippine mahogany, and there is built-in storage space along the house's curving hallways. Wright designed built-in furnishings for the house as well, including the furniture and four custom chairs. The primary living areas are within the circular main house, while the bedrooms are in the curved wing.

The Lykes House has a low-ceilinged foyer leading to larger rooms, an example of Wright's compression-and-release principle. The living room has a stone floor, wood furniture, and banquette seats beneath the windows. In addition, the living room is a built-in entertainment center, a newspaper rack, storage space beneath the seats, and a conical fireplace with a concrete hearth. Next to the living room is a library with Philippine mahogany shelves, as well as a wet bar concealed behind a sliding door. There is a curved kitchen with stainless-steel counters, illuminated by lights underneath (similar to those at his Conrad Gordon House in Oregon). Wright added custom-made cabinets to the kitchen, and there is also a stove and two pantries. Next to the kitchen is a stairway ascending to the first floor. Within the basement is a media room, which is also described as a den and has small windows, some shelves, and an entertainment center.

The house had two offices when it was built. The main second-floor office is cylindrical and was added to the plan by Rattenbury. It is directly above the kitchen and has a built-in desk, shelves, cabinets, and magazine racks. Rattenbury and Wright deliberately placed the office's windows at eye level, and he added a built-in skylight above the desk. The original design included a smaller room next to the office, but that room was merged with the office during the house's 1990s renovation. The bedrooms each have desks and cabinets, though most of the storage space for these bedrooms were in the hallway connecting each room, where there are additional built-in cabinets. The master bedroom has a separate balcony, dressing room, and bathroom. The main bathroom, adjoining the master bedroom, is clad with rose marble tiles. The house has a secondary office as well, with lunette windows and built-in furnishings.

Reception

Wright's longtime archivist Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer wrote that the house "appears, in fact, to barely light upon the desert rocks". The Scotsman, reviewing Wright's work in 1998, described the house as "at one with the bare mountains around it, as strange and romantically modern as a science fiction castle on Mars".{{Cite news |last=Macmillan |first=Duncan |date=February 23, 1999 |title=Masters of the universal |work=The Scotsman |page=12 |id={{ProQuest|326721048}}}} Another source characterized the building in 2017 as "a timeless piece of architecture that continues to be copied by today's designers and builders", while yet another commentator compared the building to "a series of tan spindles". Curbed magazine described the house's general plan in 2016 as resembling "a set of intricate clock gears". By contrast, a 1983 article from The Arizona Republic described the house as beautiful but with a disorganized layout.