The Laurent House: Accessible Design in the 1940's!

Our MAPS Senior Accessibility Specialist, Michael Grochola, recently visited the historic Laurent House in Rockford, IL. If you haven't heard of it, no worries, we only learned about its history recently ourselves. What makes this house incredibly interesting is that it was the only house designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright with accessibility as a key factor, for an owner who was in a wheelchair (he lived in this house for the majority of his life). It was incredible to see some of the accessibility items we look at everyday as part of our consulting work incorporated into the design of a house dating back 75 years. Keep in mind, this house was designed back in the late 1940s!

This house was built for WWII veteran Kenneth Laurent using the government “Specially Adapted Housing” program grant, which at the time gave up to $10,000 of funds to disabled veterans, for use in renovating, building, or fixing a residence in order to have it be accessible for that veteran's needs. Laurent was paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair; he needed a home that made it possible to live his life independently with his wife, and at the time, there did not exist a house that would have made that possible.

When touring this house, you will notice all the accessibility features or concepts that stand out that weren’t commonplace in a Wright house or most other houses, for that matter. One of the first things you notice when walking to the house is that it's a single-story home and there are no steps to the entry door. The entry door is level with the exterior of the home, with a threshold that would meet the accessibility requirements of today.

The interior is a relatively open plan with wider doors provided and additional space provided in the rooms for a wheelchair user to turn around and easily navigate. Laurent specifically stated he wanted room to change directions without the need to inconvenience guests to get up and move their chairs out of the way, a foreshadowing of turning spaces as we know them today.

There are tables designed to be accessible so that Mr. Laurent could pull up and work; there are no table legs, rather the tabletops are built-in elements that hang off the walls to provide a forward approach. There’s even a dining table designed with a lower table height and space to pull in underneath.

Cabinets are built-in elements attached to the walls, so that toe clearance can be provided underneath the cabinets to allow a wheelchair to pull up to the face of the cabinet. They are even designed with hinges at the bottom of the cabinet doors, so that they don’t have to be pulled out like traditional drawers; instead, the door just has to be flipped down to have access.

Light switches are set at a lower height, accessible reach range, before that even became a term. Even a portion of the shelves & rods in the closets are set at a lower height to be within reach range, a code requirement in Type A multifamily dwelling units we see today.

Even the bathroom was designed with lots of space for a wheelchair user to have easy maneuverability, there was accessible knee and toe clearance at the sink, and the toilet was provided with a lower seat height to facilitate transfer. It was interesting to see all the items that are requirements in multifamily dwelling units today being thought of, designed, and built over half a century ago. 

Overall, a unique piece of architecture with an interesting owner backstory, well worth the trip even if you're not a fan of all of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. The Laurent House is listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the Illinois Wright Trail. It is also a past recipient of the Landmark Illinois Richard H Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award.

We at MAPS do not perform accessibility services on single-family residential projects, since those projects are not covered by the accessibility codes. We do however, have nationwide experience handling all types of other projects, including multiple historical office to residential conversions and renovations of existing buildings. We would be more than glad to answer any questions or provide a proposal for services. Feel free to contact us.