This compact house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1906 for his friend Robert Lamp is like an Easter egg in the heart of downtown Madison, Wisconsin; hard to find, but a sweet little reward if you can.

Many Madison residents are not even aware that there is a work by one of the 20th century’s greatest architects sitting right under their noses.  The small, blocky home sits in the center of an urban block (one block from the State Capitol), surrounded by older houses and becoming even more obscured by increasingly dense development around it. Much of the development that goes on around the home is met with resistance from the community, but so far nothing has been stopped and no plans have yet surfaced to destroy the Lamp house either.  

The house has hallmarks of Wright’s Prairie School style, and is recognizable as something different among the other surrounding buildings. In fact the floor plan was essentially a dry run for Wright’s famous guide to building, A Fireproof House for $5000.

While the angular design of the home is rather indelible, the condition of the house is less than perfect, as one might expect from a home without a tenant. However even despite the sad condition of the estate, it remains an important if largely unknown bit of architectural history.