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The view of the house seen from the driveway. To the left is the workshop and wood shed connected to the carport by a trellis.

“The chimneys are in essence two big columns with some beams between them, and they look a bit like rugby posts,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “The crossbars of the rugby posts hold up the timber beams.”

House of the Tall Chimneys is entirely off the grid. Power is generated with solar panels; black and gray water is contained and managed before it’s further filtered by the undergrowth; and potable water is collected from the nearby stream. “More important than these technological fixes, however, is the fact that the building requires very little in terms of resource input in order to function successfully,” says architect Ant Vervoort. “Careful design is probably the most fundamental aspect in designing environmentally sustainable buildings.”

The Palmer House was built for William and Mary Palmer during the early 1950s, and is one of Wright's last residential masterpieces. Completely secluded and nestled against the northeast side of the beautiful Nichols Arboretum, the house is only a five minute drive (or 20 minute walk) to downtown Ann Arbor. The 2,000-square-foot home is furnished with a collection of Wright-designed furniture and even includes a teahouse. The signature Wright design complements the sylvan setting with bold triangular geometry and a cantilevered overhang.