KALAMAZOO, MI - One of the cluster of Kalamazoo-area houses designed by renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright is for sale in Galesburg.

After several years in disrepair, the Samuel and Dorothy Eppstein House, at 11090 Hawthorne Drive in Galesburg, is on the market for $455,000. That is far less than many Frank Lloyd Wright houses, and a big selling point for the house, says Realtor Fred Taber.

"It is the cheapest Frank Lloyd Wright home in the country that we can find," said Taber, a real estate professional with Jaqua Realtors in Kalamazoo. "Most are $700,000 or more. Some are in the millions."

The latter are usually larger Frank Lloyd Wright-designed houses in places like Pleasantville, N.Y., Wausau, Wis., and Chicago, he said. Those built in the Usonian style, a usually smaller, simple, form-follows-function style that Wright developed in the late 1930s "run in the $600,000 to $800,000 range," Taber said. "Usonians are a little cheaper."

The Eppstein House, named for original owners, is a Usonian house. It uses lots of natural materials, has an open floor plan and large windows. It also employs such practical living features as radiant-floor heating and built-in shelving and cabinetry, which Wright helped popularize. But it was built without much storage space or a garage.

The Eppstein House has three bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,250 square feet of living space. Its living room has 10-foot-high windows to allow for natural light. They face north for a view into a natural valley and meadow. The living room has one of the dwelling's two floor-to-ceiling fireplaces and is centered in such a way that it serves the dining room and kitchen as well as the living room.

A 20- by 20-foot general-purpose room, designed to be a second living room for children to use when adults were entertaining, has the other fireplace. That room looks out onto a terrace with a view of a cement, in-ground swimming pool that was an addition to the property.

A radiant-floor heating system serves the main area of the house, including the living room, general-purpose room, kitchen, bedrooms and bathrooms.

The house is one of eight Frank Lloyd Wright houses built after a group of 12 Upjohn Co. scientists hired Wright to visit Kalamazoo in the late 1940s and draft architectural plans for them. They wanted houses they could build themselves or have someone help them build.

Samuel Eppstein was a research scientist for The Upjohn Co. Dorothy Eppstein worked in research labs at Upjohn and flew U.S. military aircraft in World War II as a member of the Women Airforce Service Pilots. They had been married about six months when they and their fellow workers began collaborating to build houses.

Wright designed their houses in 1947. But of two residential communities he designed here, only eight Wright houses were built -- four in Kalamazoo and four in Galesburg.

Along with those in the Galesburg cooperative community, called The Acres, is a fifth residence that was designed by Wright protege Francis "Will" Willsey. Called the Gunther and Anne Fonken House, it utilized classic Wright principles and is historically significant for that and for being completed in 1959, the year Wright died.

Another selling point of the Eppstein House is its neighborhood.

The house, whose construction started in 1949 and ended in 1953, is located in The Acres, the only remaining neighborhood fully designed by Wright.

"It's a one-of-a-kind house in a one-of-a-king neighborhood," Taber said. "It's the only Frank Lloyd Wright-development of its kind because it didn't get overdeveloped."

He said Wright designed the 70-acre residential plat to accommodate 21 houses, each situated on one circular acre of land. That was intended to leave 50 acres of open, natural land for community use. But only five homes were built in The Acres.

Some say that was because the distance to Galesburg from Kalamazoo, where most of the prospective homeowners worked and lived, was cumbersome before the construction of Interstate-94.

That also caused some to favor the development of The Parkwyn Village in Kalamazoo's Winchell Neighborhood. It was a 40-acre cooperative community designed by Wright with 40 circular and semi-circular lots. Four FLW homes were built there adjacent to Asylum Lake, on Taliesin Drive (named for Wright's firm, Taliesin Associates).

Only four were built there, however. Residential lots in the area were sold and houses designed by other architects were built there over the years.

"All the other (Frank Lloyd Wright) developments, they ended up selling the other lots and they just didn't stick with the original plan, which was Usonian homes," Taber said. "In The Acres, they didn't.They didn't break up the platting. They left it just like it is."

As a result, each house in The Acres (also known as Galesburg Country Homes) and the neighborhood itself are on the National Register of Historic Places. An association of homeowners owns all the undeveloped acreage there -- wooded, hilly and beautiful land. And Taber said they have no intention to sell it, assuming that would threaten the area's historical significance.

At the $455,000 asking price, Taber said, the owner is not looking to make much, if any, money. The house has been owned by Matt Kane, a businessman and investor who lived in Indiana when he made the purchase about 20 years ago, but who now lives in Washington state.

The house has not been lived in for about 18 years, and Kane is rarely there. Over the years, it fell into disrepair. But Taber said Kane is interested in selling to someone who may want it as a primary residence; or, at the very least, someone who will make sure the house is properly maintained.

Taber said the house has required more than $300,000 worth of work over the past few years. That has included a new roof and lots of exterior work. That included the restoration of its hand-made concrete block and mahogany window frames and facia of the roof.

"Of all the homes in The Acres, it was in the worse condition," Taber said. But he said, "Now, it's got to be close to the best."

Taber said about 35 people attended a recent open house at the property. But many were there just to see a Frank Lloyd Wright house rather than buy one.

He said they included people from Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois and Ontario. While some said they made a special trip to see the house, others appeared to have diverted their travel plans from another location in order to include the visit.

Why do people like Frank Lloyd Wright homes?

"Mainly because of the historical significance," Taber said. "It's an historic home. There were only so many of them made. It's unique that they're in Kalamazoo."

"If it wasn't for group from Upjohn ... "

In a memoire that explained how they came to build the house, Dorothy Eppstein sad the true cost of the house was about $45,000, "Which came out of the salary from Upjohn's. In those days a Ph.D scientist made about $10,000 a year, Frank Lloyd Wright got paid a commission for the original part of the house, about $1,000, but not for all the subsequent building."

About Frank Lloyd Wright

Wright (June 8, 1867 - April 9, 1959) was the renown, Chicago-based architect who was instrumental in developing the Prairie School style of architecture, a quintessentially American style of domestic architecture that broke away from the European styles that most American copied to build their homes in the early 1900s.

His houses were typically low buildings with clean and broad horizontal lines, with overhangs and gently sloping roofs. They were designs that used natural and unfinished materials.

Wright also promoted the concept of organic architecture, designs that complemented the surrounding landscape. And he developed the concept of the Usonian home, the single-story precursor to ranch-style homes. They were usually small houses built with natural materials, flat roofs and large overhangs to facilitate natural cooling and solar heating.

MLive writer Al Jones may be contacted at ajones5@mlive.com. Follow him on Twitter at ajones5_al