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    Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block

    4.4 (12 reviews)

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    Reviews With Photos - Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block

    Angry A.

    What a gem! It's not often you get to see not only a finished restoration but one in the midst of being restored. Unlike other Wright places photos are welcome (and encouraged) . Our guide Dave was outstanding and his knowledge and passion was evident throughout the tour.

    Andie D.

    If you are a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, I would definitely recommend taking this short tour of the Burnham Block in Milwaukee. Our tour guide was very knowledgeable and happy to answer our questions, and even though we have visited other FLW homes, we learned plenty of new info! The other homes I have toured have been large, more glamorous homes but the Burnham Block was FLW's attempt to design homes in mass for average suburban families. Very interesting and still very beautiful!

    Orest S.

    This is a great example of the American architecture of the beginning of XX century. There are more of his buildings in Chicago. Anyway, it is worth it to stopping by here.

    B1
    PJ C.

    Being big fans of FLW we needed to catch this tour. Having seen some of his grand houses in other parts of the country it was very interesting to see some of his smallest creations. Our docent did a great job of laying out the story and walking us through the system houses on this block. Though not grand and audacious as some of his other designs the B1 is really well done. The $15 admission is in line for a FLW tour given the scale of this one. Worth the hour of our time especially to support them in their mission to save these houses. Make sure to check the days and hours for tours since it is limited.

    Open Doors Milwaukee tour
    Nancy R.

    This was a very cool tour on the Doors Open Milwaukee list today. It is quite small (800 sq. ft.), so it only takes about 15 minutes to see the place and learn all about Frank Lloyd Wright's design of these American-System Built homes for lower income folks. I learned a lot about F.L.W. as I had no idea he designed his homes very early in the 20th century. I always thought he was working in the 50's and 60's. He was definitely way ahead of his time. There are 6 F.L.W. homes all in a row on West Burnham Street. The Foundation has purchased 3 of the 6 and completely restored this one at 2714. As Mike said, this Model B1 is the only one known to exist. There are only 13 American System-Built Homes in existence and 6 of them are right here in Milwaukee! That is pretty darn cool! Of course, his flat roofs were not a very good design and these homes, like many of his, leak badly. Fortunately, the Foundation has done an outstanding job of restoring Model B1 and have raised quite a bit of money to start working on the next one, a duplex. This is an excellent place to bring out of town guests if they are at all interested in history or architecture.

    Alexis B.

    I've been on a few tours of Frank Lloyd Wright buildings and homes. This tour was different. FLW was interested in affordable housing, and he designed a series of "system-built" homes now know as American System-Built Homes. Six examples of these homes were constructed and are still standing on Burnham Street. The tour takes you into two, one that is a duplex and one that is a single-family home. The duplex that you can tour is completely gutted. The single-family home (about 800 square feet) has been renovated and restored. There is no place to buy tickets or wait for a tour to start. So our tour group just waited on the front porch of the single-family home that is part of the tour until a tour guide arrived. (We bought tickets online prior to the tour, but people who didn't had to wait for the single-family home to empty of its current hour to get a ticket from a woman inside the house. The architecture and the theory behind American System-Built Homes are interesting. However, the tour was kind of all over the place, and we spent more time on the street looking at the buildings than we did in any of the homes. (Not sure what they do when it rains!) All in all, it was an okay tour, but I'm not sure I'd recommend it except to the most serious FLW-philes.

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    Hidden gem in a slightly rundown neighborhood. Always love to see the care and preservation taken with these properties.

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    Ask the Community - Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block

    Is this house for sale or something?

    The home was designed by the great architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. It was built in 1916 and restored in 2009. It is currently open for public and group tours and also during Doors Open MKE. Tours are given by trained docents. A reservation is… 

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    Review Highlights - Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block

    Model B1, B for the floor plan and 1 for the style of roof, this is a system built house, not a pre-fab one.

    Mentioned in 3 reviews

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    Frank Lloyd Wright's Burnham Block - museums - Updated August 2026

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