One man designed almost everything in this long, spacious room trimmed with oak, including the room itself—the architect Frank Lloyd Wright. When Wright designed furniture, he thought about how it was used and how he might make it better. Notice the sofa facing the fireplace. It has big, comfortable seats, but it also has wide arms. So wide they could be used as tables. Wright designed the rows of windows along either side of the room. He even chose the decoration, down to the Japanese prints on the walls.

This was the living room in a summer home in Wayzata, Minnesota that belonged to Francis W. Little. Wright’s design for this house, finished in 1914, demonstrates what he called “organic architecture.” Every detail of the design fit with every other part, including the colors, materials, and shapes that Wright used inside and out. He saw a building and the landscape around it as one space. He wanted everything in this room to blend with the forest and lakefront that were outside the original house. Sunlight filtering through the forest trees touched the floor and walls. To give you an idea of the original view, we’ve reconstructed the side passages of the house outside the windows. Instead of Minnesota’s Lake Minnetonka, you have a view of Central Park.