A Frank Lloyd Wright haven

Text and photos by Daniella Thompson

13 October 2004

On Wednesday, 13 October 2004, BAHA thanked its regular volunteers and members in the Patron and Benefactor categories by way of a private reception in the opulent Maynard and Katharine Buehler House in Orinda. Berkeley Landmarks author Susan Cerny arranged the event. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1948, it is one of his twelve Usonian houses in California. The Buehler House wraps around a lushly landscaped pool fed by a waterfall. The redwood and concrete-block house features dramatic rooflines and widely varying ceiling heights, culminating in the butterfly-roofed living room. Frank Lloyd Wright’s signature Usonian cutouts provide light with privacy. Two creeks traverse the three-and-a-half-acre lot, where native oaks cohabit with oriental landscaping, displaying to good advantage a rustic gazebo over a pond, a Japanese teahouse, and large-scale Chinese statuary. The Japanese garden was developed in the 1960s and 1970s by Henry Matsutani, an important Bay Area landscape designer. Copyright © 2004–2019 Daniella Thompson & BAHA . All rights reserved.