Rosenbaum House
Florence, Alabama

Built in 1939 by Frank Lloyd Wright for Stanley and Mildred Rosenbaum, the Rosenbaum House is on the National Register of Historic Places.

Architecture critic Peter Blake wrote that “during the 1930s, Wright built four structures of a beauty unexcelled in America before or since.” One of the four was the Rosenbaum House in Florence, Alabama.

The Rosenbaum House was the first of dozens of Usonian houses that Wright built.

Usonian refers to a group of approximately sixty middle-income family homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright beginning in 1934. The "Usonian Homes" are typically small, single-story dwellings without a garage or much storage. They are often L-shaped to fit around a garden terrace on unusual and inexpensive sites.

The Rosenbaum House is one of the purest examples of the Usonian style. Wright eliminated the basement and attic, embedded the heating system within the concrete floor to provide radiant heat, centralized the mechanical systems, built in the furniture and lighting. Thus, Wright made great strides in developing a simpler, more efficient house suited to the informality of the middle-class American lifestyle.

The Rosenbaums remained the sole owners and occupants of the house until 1999 when they donated the house to the city of Florence. The Rosenbaum House was restored by the city and opened as a public museum in 2002.