Frank Lloyd Wright: The Mousetrap, The Cat House and The Dog House
Image: V. C. Morris Gift Shop; Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, c. 1948; Photographer, Jet Lowe, c. 1981
20th-century visionary architect Frank Lloyd Wright imagined spaces not just for people but for their pets as well. In 1948, he brought this idea to life with the V. C. Morris Gift Shop in San Francisco. At 140 Maiden Lane, the shop’s two-story tan brick façade stood out with its single, mysterious opening. Wright called his asymmetrical Romanesque archway a “mousetrap.” Stepping through, visitors entered a narrow, barrel-vaulted corridor that opened into a circular sanctuary. Inside, two white Persian cats lounged among the fine china and crystal. To complete his mousetrap, Wright designed a recessed cat house, giving the felines their own retreat.
Image: Felis Catus; Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, c. 1954
In 1954, Gerald and Rosalie Tonkens commissioned the architect to create a Usonian Automatic home in Amberley Village, Ohio. Wright envisioned the Usonian style with middle-class families in mind as opposed to the houses of the 1930s he crafted for wealthy clients. In addition to the experimental one-story concrete block structure, which included interior furnishings, the Tonkenses’ daughter, Nancy, wanted a residence for her cat, Felinus. Wright described the abode's design over the phone to Thomas Olson, the site supervisor. The resulting cat house featured a Cherokee Red painted geometric form, a trapezoidal entry portal, a flagpole, and hanging cat toys.
Image: Eddie's House; Architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, c. 1957
While two Felis Catus, as they were called, recently sold for $14,500 on 1st Dibs, a Wright-designed canine house did not have such a glamorous fate. In 1953, the architect designed a Usonian home in San Anselmo for Robert Berger, a mechanical engineer, and his family. For two decades, Berger did the work himself, including building Edie’s House, a dog shelter that Wright designed for his son’s Labrador Retriever. Following her husband’s death in 1973, Gloria Berger hired a carpenter to finish the remaining details. Unfortunately, Edie preferred the main house, and his home was taken to the dump.
Journal post dedicated to the memory of Pico, 4/28/18-5/8/26, a black Felis Catus adopted from the San Francisco SPCA.
