KC Frank Lloyd Wright home’s new owner, from Nebraska, toys with idea: A Husker room?
Is George Martin joking?
Yes — breathe easy, Frank Lloyd Wright fans — George Martin is joking.
No, the Omaha attorney — who has decided to reveal himself as the anonymous bidder who in August paid just over $1 million at auction for the Sondern-Adler house built in Kansas City by the famed modernist architect — is not going to rip up the house and redecorate with a massive red “N” or the Herbie Husker mascot of his alma mater, the University of Nebraska.
But soon after the auction, worried Wright fans and Kansas City neighbors would ask Martin about his plans for the home, tucked on 1.5 wooded acres at 3600 Belleview Ave. The home is on the National Register of Historic Places, and located next door to the Thomas Hart Benton Home and Studio State Historic Site. But its inclusion on the register does not protect it from demolition or major renovations.
“Put in a Husker room.”
“That was my first answer to everybody,” said Martin, 45, who said the line would illicit blank stares, then smiles, once people knew he was kidding.
Martin is a partner in the law firm Baird Holm LLP, where he specializes in employment and education law, such as defending colleges in Title IX disputes. He attended high school in Nebraska after his father, a colonel in the U.S. Air Force, was transferred to Offutt Air Force Base. Martin has ties to Kansas City through previous work with the Kansas City-based firm Spencer Fane.
Wright told The Star last week that his plan is to keep the Wright house nearly unchanged. He will redo what needs to be updated, such as the home’s already previously renovated bathrooms and the kitchen. Heating, cooling, some plumbing and electricity need upgrades as well.
But Martin plans to keep intact Wright’s exterior and its cypress wood interior and expansive windows. For him, he said, the home will serve as a personal retreat. He still plans to keep it on occasional public home tours, as it has been in the past.
“Jim Blair, the recent owner, we were talking one day,” Martin said. “And he said, ‘So essentially this is like a lake house for you without a lake.’ And I said, ‘Yeah, that’s right.’ It’s a place to go and escape, you know, get away from a very intense job and relax and be in a city that I really like, but also, you know, away from home.”
Martin, who said he is unmarried but with a girlfriend of three years, said he never expected to buy the home, or to be the top bidder. He only learned it was for sale because he used to peruse the historic and sometimes curious memorabilia on the website for Heritage Auctions.
“I used to just try to go there and look at stuff,” Martin said, “because I thought it was fascinating, like, you know, old Roman coins or whatever. It’s crazy the things people spend money on. It’s like, here’s a flag that Abe Lincoln owned or something. Who’s buying this stuff?”
It ended up that he was.
The self-described “Frank Lloyd Wright nerd” saw the Sondern-Adler house among the site’s real estate auctions.
“He is such a complex personality,” said Martin, who became interested in Wright after spending time in Chicago as a young lawyer. Illinois is home to a number of Wright’s homes and buildings. “I started reading about him as a person and I thought, God, this guy, he was certainly devoted to this vision that he had. And it was a vision that translated well to obviously millions and millions of people.”
The Sondern-Adler home has three bedrooms and three baths, a sunken living room and an outdoor fountain. It was built in two parts, both designed by Wright. In 1939, it was constructed at 900 square feet for Clarence Sondern and his wife. It was then expanded nine years later to 3,000-square feet for its second owner, Arnold Adler.
In 2018, owner Blair put the house on the market for $1.65 million. A year later, it went up for auction at no set minimum.
“I didn’t think anything of it,” Martin said. “Then I started thinking of it more and more. I went down there and looked at the house and, you know, the rest is history.”
Bidding began at $450,000. Martin said he didn’t intend to bid more than seven figures. He got the house for $920,000. With the auction house’s 10 percent fee, the total came to $1,012,000.
The home is not being left empty. Blair, the former owner, is caring for the house daily until it comes time for Martin to begin renovating in the coming months.
“The house is in really good shape. But it’s aged,” Martin said. The interior and the roof are sound. “It’s going to be an expensive undertaking. But the things that have to be done to it are not really exotic. By and large, the bones are really solid.”
Martin has traveled to Kansas City on a number of occasions and has already had residents from the Roanoke neighborhood over to socialize. They’ve given him names of contractors and trades people.
Josh Sitzer, president of the Roanoke Homes Association, a small group with about 100 members, said the prospect of a new owner for the home did not raise serious concerns. Neighbors reasoned that anyone interested in buying a Wright house would do so precisely because of its architectural significance.
“To be frank, if someone’s going to purchase a house like that, it isn’t going to be for the property, it’s going to be because the house is unique,” Sitzer said.
Still, they’re pleased. About 380 Wright structures still stand in the United States, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy. Some 280 are single-family homes. About 60 have been demolished.
“I’ve met George,” Sitzer said. “He’s a great guy. The neighbors all love the home. I think it’s safe to say that we’re thrilled that we’ve got somebody who is interested in preserving the historic nature of the home.”
Martin is thrilled, too.
“The folks in the Roanoke neighborhood have just been incredibly kind and generous since I bought it,” Martin said. “And it’d be great if you can just reflect that. I’ve just been overwhelmed with their kindness, and that’s made the whole experience that much better.”
This story was originally published March 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
