Rochester home inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright on the market for $1.295 million

Jul. 14—ROCHESTER — Looking for a 5-acre property, attached balcony, cozy interior space, and sense of mid-century architecture nostalgia for your next home in Rochester?

This four-bed, three-bathroom, 3,704-square-foot home built in 1976 located just blocks away from Bamber Valley School in Southwest Rochester is on the market and can be yours for just under $1.3 million.

The home was built by architect John Howe, a draftsman and apprentice of Frank Lloyd Wright, and original homeowner, Dr. John Washington, a Mayo doctor who lived in the home until the mid-1980s. It has only seen three owners in its 46 year history: the Washington's, the Milliner Family, a husband and wife who also were doctors at Mayo, and current owner Ed Baum.

Baum purchased the home from the Milliner's in the fall of 2018 and became the first owner to not be an employee of Mayo Clinic. Baum works for Apple in their IT department and came to Rochester as a family member was being treated at Mayo.

Baum, having the freedom to work remotely, wanted to find a place to settle into in Rochester and shared what originally drew him into purchasing this home.

"I've always been a fan of mid-century architecture. I think what drew me to it, from an aesthetic perspective, is just the elements of Frank Lloyd Wright, Prairie-style School of architecture elements from the outside just was appealing to me. To me, it just says it has a lot of character and every room has unique details," said Baum.

Wright designed and built over 1,000 structures before his death in 1959, and he served as a mentor to Howe.

The current listing price for the home is $1,295,000 with a $6,510 monthly mortgage rate. The house has been on the market since Memorial Day weekend. Just before it was put onto the market, realtor for the home Jessica Buelow, worked with Docomomo US, a nonprofit organization that works to preserve modern architecture to help gather the home's history with former owners.

Buelow, who is a board member with Docomomo, talked about gathering the Washington and Milliner families for a live stream with Docomomo back in May that shared the history of the home with modern architecture enthusiasts.

"It was pretty undocumented prior to us doing that event," said Buelow on gathering the history of the home. "People who are interested in modern architecture were able to ask questions about the house. It was absolutely amazing to share those fun little bits of history."

The home has had around 20 showings since hitting the market and one open house so far. There are currently no future open houses scheduled as shared by Buelow.

"The idea that I would ever live in a home at this scale of architecture was not really on my radar before I found this one. Even though it is a pretty large house, it's much more space than I need. But it doesn't feel like a huge house when you're in it. The ceilings in this room they're like a good height, they're not super high but there are little spaces too," said Baum.

Baum said he is planning to move to the Twin Cities.

According to Buelow, the architecture market is seeing a resurgence with new home designs looking more alike to the modern-architecture Prairie School homes. Many of these designs are currently being made in the Twin Cities suburbs Minnetonka, White Bear Lake and Mahtomedi.

Buelow is unaware of any new homes being built in the Rochester area with modern-architecture Prairie School homes. She believes this home will continue to draw in many interested buyers because of its unique design in the Rochester area.

"Rochester has some good original modern architecture homes like this one. I think that these styles of houses allow for not only getting out of the cookie cutter aspect of design, but can also be built in a way that's really efficient and smart to use the elements of Minnesota having the house work with the environment we're in," said Buelow.

All viewings of the home at 3304 Mayowood Hills Drive SW must be set up by appointment with Buelow and her real estate partner Karen Rue. Appointments can be arranged on the Edina Realty website's

listing of the home

or by calling 612-327-3667.