Have you heard of the Broad Margin house? It is unlike any Greenville home because it was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
During his career, he designed more than 1,100 buildings. When he was just 22 years old, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a 2-story home for his family in Chicago, which was the first house he had total creative control over after having apprenticed at a local architectural firm before starting his own practice in the 1890s.
Of Frank Lloyd Wright’s extensive architectural designs during his lifetime, only 2 were built in SC — Auldbrass Plantation in Beaufort + Broad Margin — right here in Greenville.
A southwest view of Broad Margin | Library of Congress Prints + Photographs Division
Broad Margin is a private residence and was designed for sisters Gabrielle + Charlcy Austin in 1951 and built in 1954 — when Frank Lloyd Wright was in his 80s. Wright named the house Broad Margin after Thoreau’s Walden — a series of essays — in which you can find the line, “I love a broad margin to my life.”
The Austin sisters requested Wright to design their home for years, even sending him a picture of their lot on North Main Street once. But Wright did not design houses on lots + responded with, “I design houses on acreage,” so the sisters bought 2 acres of land at 9 W. Avondale Drive, overlooking Richland Creek.
Aside from being visually stunning, the Broad Margin house is special for a few reasons. It’s a 1900-sqft structure consisting of the home, a carport, a concrete patio, and a storage area for tools. The Broad Margin house features 12 inch thick concrete walls, heated concrete floors, and has brass screws in the walls instead of regular nails.
Wright’s dictum was, “shelter should be the essential look of any dwelling,” which explains the bunker-esque vibe of Broad Margin. He designed it to be Usonian in style — a word he coined to describe a home that is distinctly American + democratic in its architectural style, while still affordable for middle class people. Wright designed ~60 of these homes during his career, beginning in 1934.
The Broad Margin is 1 of only 19 homes he signed with his initials on a small red plaque at the home’s entrance.
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You can check out the Library of Congress’ full Broad Margin photo library here.
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