{"nrhp_refnum":"06001118","name":"Buehler, Maynard and Katharine, House","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"6 Great Oak Circle","address_restricted":false,"city":"Orinda","county":"Contra Costa County","state":"CA","lat":37.86350523600004,"lon":-122.16890624599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2006-12-12","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A single-family Usonian house in Orinda, Contra Costa County, California, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1948-1949 for Maynard and Katherine Buehler, with a Japanese garden and several outbuildings on the site.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the house as a superb example of Wright's late residential work and one of his first Usonian houses in California. It combines Wright's L-shaped \"polliwog\" plan with a hexagonal living room. The house was carefully rehabilitated after a 1994 fire under Walter Olds, who had supervised its original construction, which kept its integrity.","narrative":"Built in 1948-1949 at 6 Great Oak Circle in Orinda, this house was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for engineer and inventor Maynard Buehler and his wife Katherine. It is a Usonian design, among the first of that type Wright built in California. The L-shaped plan is divided into a family area with a hexagonal living room, a bedroom wing, and a concrete block workshop at the east end. Walls are wood-clad over a steel frame, with red-colored concrete floors, a flat multi-level roof and wide eaves. The rear faces a creek and a large Japanese garden through glass walls. A 1994 fire destroyed much of the bedroom wing. Walter Olds, who had supervised the original construction as a Taliesin apprentice, oversaw the 1995-1997 rehabilitation, working from Wright's original plans. A guest house and playhouse that Olds designed in the early 1950s, along with the pool and garden features, are part of the property.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Frank Lloyd Wright (architect); Walter Olds supervised construction and later the rehabilitation, and designed the guest house and playhouse","architectural_style":"Modern Movement: Other: Usonian House","criteria":[],"status_note":"Still in use as a single dwelling. It was rehabilitated in 1995-1997 after a 1994 fire destroyed much of the bedroom wing.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:54:29.810515-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_CA/06001118.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001118/849b44e669-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/06001118/849b44e669-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Sanfranman59","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maynard_and_Katharine_Buehler_House_(Orinda,_CA).JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Sanfranman59</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Maynard_and_Katharine_Buehler_House_(Orinda,_CA).JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/123858509","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maynard_Buehler_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6797392"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/california/contra-costa-county/buehler-maynard-and-katharine-house-06001118/"}