If you have spare $15 million and want to make a very expensive romantic gesture, this heart-shaped private island could be your dream come true.
The 11-acre island on Lake Mahopac near Yorktown in upstate New York comes with lush greenery and two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes, one with a helipad on the roof.
The famed architect planned the house and its guest lodgings with stone walls, a huge bedroom, and large windows and terrace areas to look out over the spectacular view of Lake Petre, also called Lake Petra.
If you have spare $15 million and want to make a very expensive romantic gesture, this heart-shaped private island could be your dream come true
The famed architect planned the house with stone walls, a huge bedroom, and large windows and terrace areas to look out over the spectacular view of Lake Petre, also called Lake Petra
Massaro House, as it is called, has four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms over 6,000 square feet and looks like it is built into the side of a rock wall.
A 12ft high, 60ft long rock nicknamed ‘whale rock’ makes up the wall at the entrance and one of the interior walls with a smaller ‘tail rock’ forming the kitchen and bathroom wall.
As with many Wright homes, it has a characteristic cantilevered deck that stretches 25ft over the lake that is partially sheltered by a roof that also juts out from the walls.
The 18ft-high living area has 26 triangular skylights to let in natural light and six fireplaces are dotted around the residence.
Massaro House, as it is called, has four bedrooms and three-and-a-half bathrooms over 6,000 square feet and looks like it is built into the side of a rock wall
This bedroom has walls formed of stones that almost look like they are just stacked on top of each other
The 18ft-high living area has 26 triangular skylights to let in natural light and six fireplaces are dotted around the residence
Many parts of the house are carved directly out of the rock, such as part of the kitchen counter, and others have walls formed of stones that almost look like they are just stacked on top of each other.
The stone and rock is juxtaposed with wooden features like cabinets, beams and roofing as well as some of the interior walls and huge doors that open on to the deck.
The unusual design adheres to Wright philosophy of designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment in a concept he termed ‘organic architecture’.
Also on the island are two guest houses, one also designed by Wright with three bedrooms over 1,200 square feet, and a tea house, along with space for a pool, tennis courts and anything else the new owner wants to add.
A 12ft high, 60ft long rock nicknamed ‘whale rock’ makes up the wall at the entrance and one of the interior walls with a smaller ‘tail rock’ forming the kitchen and bathroom wall
Part of the kitchen counter is carved out of the rock with exposed rough edges part of its charm
The unusual design adheres to Wright philosophy of designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment in a concept he termed ‘organic architecture’
The island can be reached by boat at a private dock or by helicopter via the helipad on the Massaro House roof, with Manhattan only a 15-minute flight away, 55 miles to the south.
However, the house is controversial among architecture purists as it was not built in Wright’s time, rather constructed last decade from his sketches.
Wright designed the house and guest house in 1949 but only the guest house was built at the time as the island’s then-owner realized he couldn’t afford the $50,000 price tag and Wright died 10 years later.
Sheet metal magnate Joseph Massaro bout the island in 1996 for $700,000 and updated the design to include modern air conditioning, radiant heating, and chimney caps.
Purists claimed he shouldn’t call it a Frank Lloyd Wright house because he altered the design, but Mr Massaro fired back that he was only satisfying modern building codes and making sure the deck didn’t fall down.
The shower features a pile of rocks jutting in from the wall and others attached to it
As with many Wright homes, it has a characteristic cantilevered deck that stretches 25ft over the lake that is partially sheltered by a roof that also juts out from the walls
The stone and rock is juxtaposed with wooden features like cabinets, beams and roofing as well as some of the interior walls and huge doors that open on to the deck
‘I wouldn’t have built it if I couldn’t put it exactly where Frank intended it. They can pick it apart all they want, but in 25 years this will be considered one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpieces,’ he told the New York Times in 2006.
Mr Massaro sold his business in 2000 to focus on building the spectacular home, but a decade after it was finished he is selling the whole island.
Wright was the pioneer of what came to be called the Prairie School movement of architecture, and he also developed the concept of the Usonian home in Broadacre City, his vision for urban planning in the U.S.
In addition to his houses, Wright designed original and innovative offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, museums, and other structures – more than 1,000 in total of which half were built.
He often designed interior elements for these buildings as well, including furniture and stained glass.