Frank Lloyd Wright's Toyhill house hosts Ready To Hang designs

Designer Jeffrey Renz has utilised his weekend home, the Toyhill house by Frank Lloyd Wright, as a space to showcase products from his new brand, Ready To Hang, alongside a curated design collection.

Also known as the Friedman House, the four-bedroom, three-bathroom house was completed by Wright in 1950 for Sol and Bertha Friedman in Usonia, New York.

The property has changed hands just four times since it was finished and remains largely unaltered.

As its current custodian, Renz now spends his time there when not in the city.

He founded Ready To Hang (RTH) in 2023 based on the principles of ready-to-wear fashion, believing that homeware should also be an expression and extension of one’s personal style.

The brand’s inaugural collection includes mirrors with playful shapes and customisable frame colours in bold hues, which have been photographed at Toyhill as part of the property’s first major shoot since the 1950s.

Around the house, a Jelly mirror from RTH was placed in the living room close to a Wright-designed Taliesin floor lamp, and an RTH Big Squeeze mirror appears on the upper-floor landing.

The contrast between the bright, glossy products and the textured surfaces of the architecture was something that Renz was keen to highlight.

“This super pop-y, contemporary, lip-glossy looking thing is sitting on a 1950s handcrafted wood piece in front of a chiseled stone wall,” Renz told Dezeen. “And it works, somehow they look great together.”

Renz and his team also incorporated a curated selection of items and objects from designers Farrah Sit, Fort Standard, Faye Toogood, Sophie Lou Jacobsen and more to add personality.

Meanwhile, larger pieces from design houses Cassina, Poltrona Frau and Gohar World complement the modernist aesthetic of the original furniture, much of which was custom-designed to fit the unusual floor plan, from bookshelves to beds.

“I think we created a very interesting mix of traditional home with unique, more modern furnishings and accessories that clash in a really cool way,” said Ready to Hang brand manager Annemarie Allen.

The house features an almost circular plan, similar to Wright’s other buildings of that era, such as the Solomon R Guggenheim Museum, the VC Morris Gift Shop, and the David and Gladys Wright House.

“At the very beginning, the layout was confusing,” said Renz. “Everything’s in a circle, and you literally walk around in circles.”

“But once you get the lay of the land, there is a real natural flow to it that you don’t even realise after a little while; that you just become a part of.”

Wright designed three properties for the Usonia neighbourhood, which was planned by a group of his students, including David Henken and Aaron Resnick, on 100 acres of woodland an hour’s drive north of Manhattan.

The name Usonia is commonly associated with Wright’s architectural principles, which dictate a strong integration with the landscape, low forms and overhanging roofs, exaggerated horizontal lines, and the use of natural materials like stone, wood and glass.

At Toyhill, which is located at the top of a hill, these attributes result in an immersive setting within the surrounding woodland.

“It feels a bit like living in a tree house, in the way that the roof comes out, which is true of a lot of his buildings – where it takes your eye further away,” Renz said.

Architectural elements unique to the house include a balcony that overlooks the living area, which in the past was used by a local choir for practices – a tradition that Renz is hoping to reinstate this autumn.

Otherwise, the house is not open for tours, although it does receive impromptu visits from curious Wright fans.

“The house does get a lot of visitors,” said Renz. “It’s very much private and not promoted in that way at all, but there’s always a friend of a friend from someone else in the neighborhood who is visiting and wants to check it out.”

Wright is considered one of America’s greatest architects, and his work has informed everything from Airstream trailers and themed cruises to furniture collections and sneakers.

Earlier this year, a Usonia house designed by Wright known as Project #5909, or Riverrock, was finally completed in Ohio – although its attribution was contested by official organisations.

The photography is by Matthew Gordon.

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