Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House

Madison, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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Built between 1946 and 1948 in Madison, Wisconsin, the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House—known as the Solar Hemicycle—is Frank Lloyd Wright's innovative response to a journalist's commission for a new family residence. The house's distinctive semicircular-arc floor plan and energy-conscious orientation toward natural light define its modern design, while limestone construction and partial embedding into an earthen berm integrate the structure into its landscape. The northern facade features a circular stone staircase tower emerging from the berm, while a curved glass wall on the southern side overlooks a sunken garden and stone terrace. Accessed through a tunnel carved into the berm, the house contains an open-plan living and dining area, kitchen, root cellar, and a partly-interior pool. After the Jacobses moved in during 1948—occupying the root cellar in July and the full house by September—subsequent owners including professor William R. Taylor and Bill Taylor undertook renovations and additions. Recognized for its architectural significance, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and designated a National Historic Landmark in 2003.

Architect

Frank Lloyd Wright

Movement

modern architecture

Built: 1948
Type: single-family detached home
Materials: limestone
Heritage: Madison Landmark, listed in the Wisconsin State Register of Historic Places
Place: Madison, United States

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Location

43.07390, -89.53470