Winton Guest House

Close

Photo courtesy University of St. Thomas

Name
Winton Guest House
Designer
Frank Gehry
Client
Mike and Penny Winton
Date
1987/2008
Disciplines
  • Architecture

In 1982, Mike and Penny Winton commissioned Frank Gehry to design a 2,300-square-foot guesthouse for their grandchildren on the site of their home designed by Philip Johnson in Wayzata, Minnesota. The unorthodox result was an ensemble of six forms and rendered in a range of materials, including painted metal, local limestone, brick, and plywood. Dynamically situated, spinning off of a central living room space, the resulting composition is integral yet the elements of it remain discrete. An exemplary work of Gehry’s experimentation in materials, form, and space, the guesthouse survives today, bequeathed by Kirt Woodhouse and relocated to Owatonna, Minnesota, and cared for by the University of St. Thomas since 2007. The 2014 sale of the Owatonna property means that the house is on the move again as a search for a new site for the guest house commences.