Patty Loew:
We move from art on the water to the art of architecture. Many consider Frank Lloyd Wright designs a work of art. Now his vision for America gets a face lift. "In Wisconsin" reporter Liz Koerner shows you one street being transformed back to the way Wright had originally intended in Milwaukee.

Man:
Frank Lloyd Wright has been a life long passion going all the way back to high school.  

Liz Koerner:
Mike Lilek is a member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Heritage Tourism Program. The group bought this house, built in 1916, because it's one-of-a-kind.

Mike Lilek:
This is the only model B1 of the American System Built Homes that was ever built.

Liz Koerner:
The American System Built homes was Wright's way of designing houses that were affordable for the working class. His designs were less costly to build but didn't scrimp on features that made the houses feel luxurious.

Jack Holzheuter:
The fireplaces give you a sense of luxury and coziness that you don't otherwise find in most compact spaces.

Liz Koerner:
Before starting the restoration, Lilek and the group did a great deal of research.

Mike Lilek:
We can tell in this particular room there are eight finishes applied over the 90 or so years of the house. Starting with this color and then progressing on and you can kind of see, you know, in the 1950's we went to a green and a yellow and so on and so forth. This little hole is different. In this case we actually dug out some of the plaster itself and we sent this to a lab for analysis so when it comes time to fix all of the cracks and things that you see, we know exactly what materials to use.

Liz Koerner:
The hands-on work started on the exterior turning back the clock in a number of ways, like removing a porch that wasn't in the original design. They're also planning to re-create the original look of the exterior. It's called a pebble dash finish.

Mike Lilek:
In the stucco that was adhering to the wood lath, you have the pebbles that are made out of quartzite and white quartz.

Liz Koerner:
As you might imagine, the to-do list for the restoration is quite long and the cost of the project reflects it.

Mike Lilek:
The original home cost $3500 to build. And today the restoration project is pegged at $411,000 for the exterior alone. It's pretty pricey.

Patty Loew:
Since that report first aired last March, the front entry, without the porch, now looks the way Wright intended and the exterior has been returned to its historic pebble dash finish.

Mike Lilek:
This is something that was practiced very commonly in northern Europe and in particular Poland in 1916 and a lot of the craftsmen that were here in the neighborhood or city at the time were from Poland and so it's quite natural that they knew how to do this but it's a lost art.

Patty Loew:
Restoration of the interior of the house is also nearly completed. From the warm tones of the red gum wood to the Wright-designed light fixtures sporting authentic Edison light bulbs. To the now cleaned up and colorful, brick fireplace.

Mike Lilek:
The fireplace was really a process, a slow painstaking process of several days of stripping off, layer by layer, this soot. Some was cigarette smoke, some was industrial soot from the neighborhood in the early days of the home.

Patty Loew:
Even though they're still in the process of fundraising to furnish the house, they already offer occasional tours.

Mike Lilek:
The neat thing, I think, is the house is less than 850 square feet and people come into the house and their experience of it is, I could live here.

Patty Loew:
It's a testament to Frank Lloyd Wright's design for this affordable working class home and a testament to the efforts of all of the craftsmen and women and volunteers like Mike Lilek who worked on the project.

Mike Lilek:
We're very proud to have been able to do the work we have and now introduce it and bring it to the rest of the world.

Patty Loew:
The house is set to have its official grand opening this spring. Tours are available and the house can be rented for special occasions. The Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Tourism Program now owns three of the six Wright buildings on the same block in south Milwaukee.