It was the winter of 1985 and Domino’s Pizza was on a hot streak. The franchise, founded two decades earlier by Thomas Monaghan, had become the country’s fast-growing pizza restaurant, and the first phase of Monaghan’s unique vision for the company’s headquarters was complete. This wasn’t a standard HQ: it was a sprawling office park on rolling farmland outside Ann Arbor, Michigan, and unofficial shrine to Monaghan’s longtime idol, Frank Lloyd Wright.

Frank Lloyd Wright appreciation verging on the fanatical is no rarity; people still buy his homes for millions, even though they’re notorious for aging poorly, and there’s a substantial web of organizations dedicated to the preservation of his work. Still, there has perhaps been no person more (unexpectedly) committed to the 20th-century architect’s vision than the Domino’s founder. As the story goes, Monaghan first discovered Wright’s work at a library in Michigan when he was 12, then admired his Imperial Hotel while serving in the Marine Corps in Tokyo. By the ’80s and early ’90s, once Domino’s had hit its stride, the founder was gobbling up Frank Lloyd Wright furniture at an unbelievable rate and cost. The volume was so high that Monaghan was considered a key factor in the hike in prices for Wright’s works, according to a 1988 New York Times story, and he was criticized by preservationists who believed deep-pocketed collectors were destroying the artistic value of Wright homes as they snapped up built-in details of the structures that would leave them with less of their original character. Though total amount for this yearslong spending spree are unavailable, another 1988 New York Times story reported that Monaghan spent over $14 million on Wright objects alone by that time, acquiring “the largest collection of the architect’s furniture, stained glass, and decorative objects anywhere.” Never mind the $330,000 he spent a few years earlier on Wright’s 1941 Carlton D. Wall House (also known as Snowflake) and a 1953 Usonian that had been dismantled and stored away for decades. Or that $120 million office park.

Just outside Ann Arbor on a street named Frank Lloyd Wright Drive, Domino’s Farms is a behemoth structure that spans a half-mile long and over 400,000 square feet. Monaghan tasked architect Gunnar Birkerts (a former employee of Eero Saarinen) with designing the structure to evoke Wright’s Prairie style. “Tom is addicted to Frank Lloyd Wright without any reservation,” Birkerts told the New York Times in 1985. The office building is pure postmodern pastiche: With its flat planes and red brick, it’s legibly Wright-inspired on the exterior, though largely unrelated to the Midwestern architect’s style on the interior, save for the chairman’s suite, with its brick hearth and wood-paneled walls.

At the time of the new HQ’s construction, the Domino’s owner (who’d recently bought the Detroit Tigers) was emphatic about Wright’s brilliance. “I’ve been evangelizing Frank Lloyd Wright all my life,” Monaghan told the New York Times. “I’ve never met anyone yet who hasn’t been impressed.” The business tycoon spoke about drawing attention to Wright’s genius as imperative, like the architect’s work might otherwise be completely forgotten. “Wright is the equal if not the superior of Michelangelo,” he stated in an interview with historian Hugh Howard in the 1991 book Preservationist’s Progress. This wasn’t just a personal fixation, but in some ways, a strange offshoot of the Domino’s Pizza brand. For a roughly decade-long period, Frank Lloyd Wright—and architecture by extension—was a part of the Domino’s corporate identity. You could buy calendars that featured “Selections from the Domino’s Center for Architecture and Design” and read semifrequently about Monaghan’s latest auction exploits in the Times. There was a Domino’s-sponsored award for the “Domino’s Pizza World’s Top 30 Architects.” Design historian David A. Banks wrote a 1989 book titled Frank Lloyd Wright: Preserving an Architectural Heritage, Decorative Designs From the Domino’s Pizza Collection.

Janette Lindner first bought this Houston, Texas, bungalow 20 years ago, before she and her husband, Fred, got together. “She allowed me to move in,” Fred says with a laugh. The pair made some small tweaks to the interiors to make the 1930 home more comfortable for a modern age, and they lived there, two young adults in love, happily for years. 

Smash cut to 2020. The Lindners were still happy in their historic neighborhood, but they were also starting to feel a little cramped, now that they shared the house with their two kids, Andrew and Alex. “Covid really highlighted our need to expand the space and the function of the home to accommodate our growing family,” says Fred. 

They started dreaming of a more functional layout, with separate rooms for each of the kids, office spaces to accommodate the grown-ups’ hybrid work schedules (Janette is a management consultant; Fred is a brand and software designer), and a new laundry room. The catch? They didn’t want to give up too much of the backyard to make it happen. “Outdoor space is important to us,” says Janette. Oh, and any changes needed to be in keeping with the scale and character of the neighborhood.

For some, this might have been a tall order, but Kristin Schuster, principal of Inflection Architecture, approached the challenge with excitement. “They had this darling little historic bungalow that they really cared for a great deal and had worked hard to make work for them,” she recalls. “The house was bursting at the seams with vibrant, colorful stuff everywhere, and I  remember thinking, ‘Okay, there’s a way to find the place for all of these things and all these people that is going to help them stay connected.’”

Working with Schuster, the family settled on plans for a new-build second story that would bring the 1,200-square-foot bungalow up to 1,900 square feet, with three bedrooms and plenty of space for family music jams and creative pursuits. Schuster placed bedrooms for Alex and Andrew up on the second floor, along with a shared bath and play space, which allowed her to reconfigure the ground level more effectively and make use of shared, overlapping functions. 

“All these spaces connect through looping circulation or sneak-peek openings that borrow light and views and let everyone feel as connected as they want to be while they are home,” says Schuster.

Living in one of Houtson’s more restrictive historic districts, there were some limits on what could be done to the facade of their home, which was built in 1930. But the demolition revealed evidence that the home had once had a large front porch, so Fred took a 22-slide Powerpoint presentation down to city hall and got permission to add one back into the design.

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Bruny Island, Tasmania, Australia

Architect: Room11 / @room11__

Footprint: 1,722 square feet

Builder: Merlin Constructions

Interior: Vipp / @vipp

Photographer: Adam Gibson / @adam.gibson.photo

Styling: Jack Milenkovic

From the Architect: “Danish design brand Vipp traveled to the southern hemisphere for the brand’s newest guesthouse. Cantilevered over a sloping hill on Tasmania’s Bruny Island, the Vipp Tunnel by Hobart studio Room11 balances beauty and brutalism.

“Balancing on the edge between solid ground and open air, Vipp Tunnel expresses a playful dialogue between concrete cubism and its organic surroundings. The 1,722-square-foot home stretches 98 feet, and wall-to-wall glass and recessed steel doors provide unobstructed views of the surrounding landscape and sea. An atrium yard separates the main living space from the primary bed and bathroom, while at one end of the home, a glass door leads to a framed terrace floating above the land.”

“A separate 377-square-foot concrete cube with 13-foot-high ceilings referred to as ‘the studio’ offers an escape to a space of visual and sensory calm. Ideal as an office space or meditation room, its spare design highlights the architecture.

“Inspired by the area’s natural phenomenon known as aurora australis, or southern lights, when the night sky is transformed into a dreamscape of color, Room11 added chromatic glazing to the building’s central skylights. Polished concrete floors and walls further enhance the effect, reflecting the ever-changing interplay of light like an ever-changing artwork.

“Vipp’s new all-aluminum V3 kitchen anchors the home’s main space. With a monumental stainless steel counter and fluted aluminum doors, the kitchen island mirrors the materiality of the building’s architecture.

“Clad with an entire facade of solar panels facing west, the structure is energy-sufficient and runs off-grid. During the design process, Room11 conducted surveys of every tree on-site and articulated roadworks around significant trees. A narrow construction corridor was established so that the impact on endemic vegetation was kept to an absolute minimum. The concrete panel design provides a thermal insulation to keep a regular temperature throughout the year, minimizing the use of heating and cooling sources. The getaway is purely run off rainwater and self-sufficient energy.”

Location: 3625 Fredonia Drive, #12, Los Angeles, California

Price: $899,000

Year Built: 1963

Architect: Ray Kappe

Footprint: 1,254 square feet (2 bedrooms, 2 baths)

From the Agent: “Two stories of glass, nine-foot ceilings, and spectacular views subsist in this Hollywood Hills condominium bordering Studio City designed by architect and educator Ray Kappe. The home measures 1,254 square feet, and each element of the living areas, bedrooms, and baths is masterfully planned, functional, stylish, and timeless. The neighborhood is close to dining and entertainment, and the home is freeway convenient to the studios, Valley, and all your favorite places in L.A. Soft story retrofitting is complete, the roofs are one year new, and the HOA dues cover the building’s earthquake and fire insurance, as well as a monthly contribution to the reserve, pool, and more. Rarely is such a true piece of Los Angeles midcentury-modern architecture offered at a price like this.”

The patio windows stretch from the floor of the first level to the ceiling of the second.

Shawn Bishop

Welcome to How They Pulled It Off, where we take a close look at one particularly challenging aspect of a home design and get the nitty-gritty details about how it became a reality.

It’s not every day that you put the wood flooring of a former bowling alley in a residential kitchen—even for architect Lindsey Wikstrom, whose New York–based firm Mattaforma specializes in sustainable sourcing, including using reclaimed and renewable materials. But when clients Laura (an Emmy-award-winning TV writer) and Darryl (a lawyer) connected with her and expressed their interest in using “materials that brought stories with them” for their home in Ditmas Park, Brooklyn, reclaimed wood felt like the right choice. 

Laura, Darryl, and their two cats, Gus and Hammy, sought to update their home but keep the quirky, historic detailing that made it feel lived-in and comforting. The duplex takes up two floors of a three-story wood-frame home originally built as a single-family, Victorian-style residence in the early 1900s. Over time, the house was converted into two units: one on the ground floor (which would remain untouched by Wikstrom) and a second unit on the second and third floors that was the focus of the renovation.

Wikstrom described the unit’s existing condition as “very outdated” and inefficient. Circuitous routes led through the kitchen or living and dining areas in order to reach the bedrooms, and the kitchen, with its dark wood cabinetry and granite countertops, hadn’t been renovated in decades. 

Location: 70378 Pecos Road, Rancho Mirage, California

Price: $5,995,000

Year Built: 1958

Architects: Henry Eggers & Walter Wilkman

Footprint: 7,566 square feet (8 bedrooms, 11 baths)

Lot Size: 1 Acre

From the Agent: “A rare and extraordinary offering designed in 1957 by renowned architects Henry Eggers & Walter Wilkman for Thomas B. Davis, White Shadows stands as one of the desert’s most revered architectural masterpieces in Thunderbird Heights. Set behind private gates on an elevated acre, the estate boasts panoramic views of the valley floor and surrounding mountains. A sun-drenched courtyard, highlighted by a striking fountain, serves as the home’s dramatic centerpiece, seamlessly blending indoor and outdoor living. This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance to own an iconic estate where historic modernism meets timeless sophistication, all set against the breathtaking backdrop of the desert landscape.”

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Rome, Italy

Designer: 02A Studio / @02astudio

Footprint: 1,291 square feet

Photographer: Giulia Natalia Comito / @giu.natalia

From the Designer: “Sometimes when renovating a home, one wants to achieve a result that does not look new and freshly packaged, but has the flavor of something already experienced.

“This renovation was the request of two creatives. We transferred their family’s playful and whimsical imagery into spaces that would contain, without too many rules, what they love and what makes them happy. The home is in the Villa Fiorelli area, in a social housing development. The floor plan is L-shaped, with an entrance on the long side and windows arranged on another, a typical corridor layout with rooms in a row.

“Directly through the entrance is a central room with a living space on one side and a kitchen on the other. The hallway continues to the left of this central area, punctuated by three arched doors lacquered in sugar paper that grant access to two bathrooms and a first bedroom. On the opposite side, separated by a full-height swing door, are two more bedrooms.

“The eclectic, layered style links vintage elements with industrial-flavored grafts, antiques, and custom-designed furniture. Added to this are pictorial interventions made by the owner: geometric frames, and optical motifs that mark the doorways or decorate the walls. The floor is made of larch planks, and the walls have a rough finish—a lime-based IG 21 that dialogues with the rest of the home.

“The result is a welcoming yet awe-inspiring environment, an enthusiastic synthesis of the diverse humanity that will inhabit it.”

Location: 3025 Geronimo Trail, Austin, Texas

 Price: $1,450,000

Year Built: 2008

Architect: John Allen

Footprint: 2,180 square feet (4 bedrooms, 3.5 baths)

Lot Size: 0.18 Acres

From the Agent: “A unique glass tree house feel and a magical experience await you as you step down the custom slate stairs into another world. This contemporary four-bedroom, three-full-bath Luxor Custom Home is unlike anything you have seen with glass walls that stand over 30 feet tall. A metal roof, steel construction, commercial grade doors, Honey Onyx countertops, a moss rock shower, Calcutta marble countertops, and marble floors are only a few of the luxurious features. Rock walls at this home carved into the side of a cliff give it a pretty private and serene setting. Located in the trendy community of Apache Shores, the home is five minutes from Lake Travis and three minutes from Lake Austin.” 

As children, Erazmia and Anxhela Gjikopulli reveled in summers at their parents’ house near the beach in Dhërmi, an idyllic Albanian village some three hours south of Tirana, the capital. So, when their father bought a dilapidated building in the historic center, the ambitious sisters were keen to transform it into an inviting home and forge new memories.

“For as long as we’ve been coming to Dhërmi, it’s looked like a ruin,” says Erazmia of the once-neglected structure. In the past, it was used for storing and pressing olives, but for Erazmia and Anxhela it evokes nostalgia on a more personal level because it neighbors the home their grandparents resided in before they abruptly left during communism.

Before: Facade

At first, Erazmia, a Tirana-based architect and urban designer, and Anxhela, who works as a product owner in Munich, envisioned the renovation unfolding as one commodious, duplex-style apartment. Ultimately, they decided to create two pieds-à-terres—Sea Apartment 1 and Sea Apartment 2—one for each of them to relish in between guest bookings managed by their mother.

After: Facade

Houses We Love: Every day we feature a remarkable space submitted by our community of architects, designers, builders, and homeowners. Have one to share? Post it here.

Project Details:

Location: Comporta, Portugal

Architect: Pimaa Arquitects / @pimaa_arquitects

Footprint: 4,500 square feet

Builder: Odum

Photographer: Ricardo Cruz / @ricardocruz

From the Architect: “Nestled between the serenity of a pine forest, this project captures the essence of Comporta’s landscape. Inspired by the sun, the area’s fishing traditions, and the raw beauty of the region, the design reinterprets humble fishermen’s wooden huts found in Carrasqueira, Portugal.

“The project’s guiding principle was an ecological commitment to preserve and respect the existing pine forest. Rather than clearing land, the cabins are delicately placed within the natural voids of the trees, allowing the landscape to dictate the architecture. A palette of natural materials—wood, cement, and plaster—grounds the design in honesty and simplicity, echoing the ethos of truth to materials.

“The architecture is composed of five distinct volumes, each designed with precise functionality and spatial articulation. These volumes are interconnected by a network of elevated wooden walkways, minimizing disruption to the forest floor and reinforcing the dialogue between built and natural environments.

“The day area, organized in the central volume, is a multipurpose space that consolidates living, dining, and kitchen functions under a unified roof. Designed with expansive glazing, this volume fosters seamless transitions between interior and exterior spaces, capturing views of the surrounding forest and rice fields.

“Two auxiliary volumes complement the day area. To the west, a gym space is oriented to embrace the setting sun. To the east, an open garage marks the entrance to the property, balancing functionality with a restrained architectural expression.

“The sleeping area is distributed across two volumes, emphasizing privacy and retreat. The first volume accommodates the primary bedroom and an en suite guest room, each benefiting from direct access to the exterior walkways. The second volume, dedicated to additional bedrooms, is designed for adaptability and comfort, ensuring a cohesive relationship between all the spaces.

“At the heart of the composition lies the swimming pool deck, an open-air courtyard bordered by the volumes. This space anchors the design, creating a dynamic environment where daily life unfolds. The interplay of water, light, and natural materials transforms the courtyard into a contemplative retreat, further integrating the architecture with its surroundings.”