In 2019, The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright was added to the List of UNESCO-Designated World Heritage Sites. Although some may question the practicality and maintainability of some of Wright’s designs, no one can question the imaginative artistry of his work.
As for me, I always keep an eye out for Wright’s work while on a road trip and have featured many of his buildings in several different posts within this BLOG (just enter Frank Lloyd Wright in the Search Box). And finally last month, my little dog Sparky and I made it to the one-and-only Wright-designed Gas Station that was ever constructed. It’s in Cloquet, Minnesota (about 25 miles west of Duluth), and needless to say, Cloquet has been on my radar scope since reading about the gas station over ten years ago.
The R.W. Lindholm Service Station opened in 1958, just a year before Wright died in 1959 at the age of 91, and is still in use today. Wright had designed a gas station earlier in his career for an auto-centric decentralized urban community that he envisioned in the 1930s called Broadacre City. Since that project never got off the ground, Wright approached R.W. Lindholm about building a gas station soon after designing his 1952 residence.
Although the gas station is no longer in the Lindholm family hands, it still functions as a full service gas station and was very active when Sparky and I walked around. There were even several other people stopping long enough to get a picture of the station. It definitely is unique!
As you can see the station is quite active. That cantilevered copper roof has a projection of over 30 feet. You can also see the second floor waiting room. And if you look to the left, you can see that Cloquet’s Post Office is just across the street.
The view from the Post Office.
As Sparky and I walked around the Gas Station, we spotted a New Deal Era Post Office building directly across the street. Unfortunately, its New Deal Era Post Office Mural was lost sometime during a 1960s remodeling project. Getting both a Wright building and a Post Office mural right next to each other would have been like hitting the Daily Double. But just getting a chance to check out Frank Lloyd Wright’s one-and-only gas station made it an A+ day!
The Cloquet Post Office Cornerstone
But on our way to Cloquet, we did actually hit the Daily Double by getting both a Wright building and a Post Office mural in Richland Center, Wisconsin. They weren’t across the street from each other, but they were within walking distance. Richland Center is in the middle of Wisconsin Dairy Farm Country and is in one of the prettiest areas of the entire nation. It is also where Wright was born in 1867. Taliesin (Wright’s famous personal residence and studio) is only 30 miles away in Spring Green, Wisconsin.
But the only Wright-designed building in Richland Center is the 1921-era A.D. German Warehouse. It features Mayan Revival design elements that Wright incorporated into many of the houses he designed in California. Mayan Revival was a very popular motif in the 1920s that also shows up in many Craftsman and Art Deco buildings.
A.D. German Warehouse – opened in 1921.
The view from the other side.
A closer look at the “Mayan Revival” features.
Even the support pillars are quite decorative.
This is Richland Center’s Post Office Mural – “Decorative Interpretation of the Unification of America through the Post” by Richard Brooks
The Post Office Mural in nearby Reedsburg does a good job of capturing the Dairy Farming nature of the area – “Dairy Farming” by Richard Jansen.
On a road trip last September, we were able to pair up Frank Lloyd Wright’s Burnham Block in Milwaukee with Greendale, a 1930s-Greenbelt community just outside of Milwaukee. They are only six miles apart from each other.
The Burnham Block was Wright’s attempt to provide affordable housing for the everyday worker market. He and his partner (Arthur Richards – a developer) hoped that by using pre-cut materials and other efficiencies that they could make an affordable home. Between 1912 and 1916, they built six American System-Built Homes on Burnham Street just west of South 27th Street in Milwaukee as a demonstration.
With the onset of World War One and a falling out between the two partners, the project came to an end, and only a handful of their American System-Built Homes were ever constructed. But the original six houses on Burnham Street still stand and are occasionally open for tours.
Looking at the Burnham Block from the corner of 28th Street and Burnham Street.
A Burnham Block house.
Burnham Block homes.
A closer look.
Another Burnham Block home.
Greendale, Wisconsin was built in 1938 as one of the New Deal’s three experimental Greenbelt cities. (The others are Greenbelt, Maryland and Green Hills, Ohio.) The idea was to create jobs constructing the communities and then having an affordable and walkable community. The advent of World War Two ended the Great Depression and the need for “job creation” type projects. And post-War prosperity further put an end to New Deal-type experimentation. The houses were eventually sold to the residents to end the Federal Government’s involvement.
One of the many streets in Greendale.
The end of the street leads to a wooded park.
Sidewalks through the wooded park allow you to walk to the town center and to local shopping.
Many homes are right on the sidewalk path.
And some of the homes have great decoration.
But perhaps, the biggest Jackpot that Sparky and I hit was in Spring 2025 when we were coming back from the Appalachian Trail and checked out Frank Lloyd Wright’s only building in the state of Tennessee. It’s a Wright-designed Usonian House built in 1952 sitting right at the top of Missionary Ridge in Chattanooga. Usonian houses were single-story homes with a simple design and Missionary Ridge is where one of the most important battles of the Civil War was fought.
After the Battle of Chickamauga in September 1863, Confederate forces occupied Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain to bottle up the Union Army in Chattanooga and place them under siege. Ulysses S. Grant was sent in to break the siege and drive the Confederate forces off of Missionary Ridge and Lookout Mountain. By the end of November, Grant had reopened the supply lines, brought in more troops, and was ready to attack.
When the attack came, Union soldiers captured Confederate picket lines at the base of Missionary Ridge but soon realized that they were vulnerable to attack from above. So the safest thing for them to do was to keep scrambling up the steep slope and climb more than 300 feet of elevation to drive the Confederates off the Ridge.
That victory secured the important rail junction of Chattanooga for the Union; established the base and jump-off location for William Tecumseh Sherman’s march on Atlanta; and of most importance, it brought Grant east to take charge of the entire Union Army.
And all of this happened where Gerte and Seamour Shavin hired Wright to build a Usonian-style home in 1952. Until the home was put up for sale earlier this year, the house had remained in Shavin family hands since it was built.
This is the view of the Shavin House from the Crest Road on top of Missionary Ridge.
If you turn around, this is the view looking west from the Shavin House at the top of Missionary Ridge. Lookout Mountain is off to the left and Chattanooga is down below.
The Missionary Ridge Crest Road is lined with cannons, monuments, and descriptive signs of where units were placed and their subsequent actions.
One the many monuments.
This plaque is directly in front of the Shavin House. Confederate positions are usually on Red Plaques, while Union positions are on Blue or Bronze Plaques.
This plaque is directly across the street from the Shavin House and describes the location where this particular Union unit reached the Crest of Missionary Ridge.
The main entrance to the Shavin House is around the corner off of a little side street. Note the notice at the gate.
The Shavin House from the gate.
A closer view from the gate.
And now it’s time to plan some more Road Trips!
August 4, 2026 at 12:37 pm
Great story and photos of Frank Lloyd Wright’s buildings!