Allen House, Wichita KS
As part of the Class of 1960’s 62nd Reunion, you are invited to visit the Allen House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, one of America’s most acclaimed architects. The residence was completed in 1918 at 255 North Roosevelt in the College Hill neighborhood. Henry Allen, the client, owned the Wichita Beacon, served as governor of Kansas and later represented Kansas as a U.S. Senator. He and his wife Elsie were referred to Wright by their friend William Allen White, the Emporia journalist. The Allens lived in the house until 1947.
Allen House has been acclaimed as the “most livable” of Wright’s domestic residences. One of the Wright’s last Prairie-style homes, Allen House features the long horizontal roof lines and windows with geometric stained glass trim typical of this style. The interior uses both Prairie-style and Japanese interior details. At the same time he was making drawings for Allen House, Frank Lloyd Wright was also designing The Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
Wright incorporated a number of innovations at Allen House, including a central vacuuming unit, an alarm system, gas fireplace logs, and the first firewall in a residential home. The interior décor and furnishings have been fully restored, so visitors can see a comfortable, modern-feeling home as it was in its prime.
Eventually donated to Wichita State University, Allen House is now owned and operated by the Allen House Foundation. It is listed in the National Register of Historic Places and the UNESCO World Heritage List. The architect himself said that he considered Allen House 
“among my best.”
A second Frank Lloyd Wright building, the Corbin Center, houses Wichita State University’s education programs. Built in 1963, the Corbin Center was named after WSU president Harry Corbin, Jr., father of our own Harry F. Corbin III, whom we knew as classmate Kim Corbin. (Photos of WSU’s Corbin Center at right and below.)
The Class of 1960 Reunion tour of Allen House is being organized by David Robinson ’60. We are scheduled to visit on Saturday, October 1, at 1:30. Tickets cost $22 unless there are more than 10 of us, which drops the fee to $15. To reserve a place, contact Marilyn Tompkins Bellert (mbellert@niu.edu or 815 761 0466).
Jack Austin lived in that house when I was in grade school at College Hill Elementary School. He was in my class and we always went there for Trick or Treat. Snow often dropped the Halloween temperatures so we planned the midway trip for a place to warm up, because they always invited children inside to warm up and have a treat.