Theodore Baird Residence

Amherst, United States

Exterior only

Visible from the street; the inside is private.

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The Theodore Baird Residence in Amherst, Massachusetts, is the only Frank Lloyd Wright design built in the state. Completed in 1940 as a Usonian house for Amherst College English professor Theodore Baird, it represents a unique chapter in Wright's prefabrication experiments—the only Usonian home whose materials were factory-prepared before being assembled on-site. The Bairds commissioned the house after reading Wright's autobiography, and Wright developed the design based on their lifestyle and property description. With construction overseen by Wright protégé William Wesley Peters, the residence features brick, cypress wood, and glass facades beneath a dramatically cantilevered flat roof sheltering a carport. The interior includes radiant floor heating through concrete slabs, three fireplaces, and distinctly planned quarters: the Bairds' living spaces at one end and an in-law apartment for Baird's mother at the other—alongside a dedicated dog run and doghouse. Set back 250 feet from Shays Street and surrounded by a 4-acre woodlot, the house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.