Tiny homes are all the rage these days, but they’re not new. Frank Lloyd Wright began designing small, affordable homes in the 1930s.

The Gordon House Conservancy, charged with preserving the only Oregon house designed by Wright, next month will hold an event looking at his small house designs. will take place May 12, from 5-8 p.m. at Design Within Reach in Portland. A panel will discuss the current shortage of affordable housing in Portland.

Molly Murphy, director of the conservancy, said that following the Great Depression, Wright designed small affordable houses using what he called Usonian Design. Dale Gyure, a noted Wright scholar and professor of architecture at Lawrence Technological University in Southfield, Michigan, will give the event’s keynote address and talk in depth about Usonian Design, Murphy said.

Gyure will then join the panel discussion also featuring Sarah Zahn of Gerding Edlen Development, Eli Spevak of the Portland Planning and Sustainability Commission and Diane Lynn of nonprofit Proud Ground.

Murphy said Wright saw that although many Americans saw their incomes decrease drastically after the depression, they still wanted homes. So he came up with a design that used inexpensive three-inch modular concrete blocks that could be assembled in a variety of ways and secured with streel rods and grout.

His approach could be applied to the current affordable housing shortage, Murphy said.

“The concept and ideas are the same things we see people struggling with today,” she said.

Murphy added that the conservancy has raised the $100,000 it needs to repair the Gordon House’s double cantilevered balcony. It began failing apparently because the builder didn’t follow Wright’s plans; the owner had propped the balcony by using a strip of irrigation hose. Currently, it’s held up by two four-by-fours at each corner.

The Gordon House, built in 1963, was moved to Silverton in 2002. Permits will be sought for the balcony repairs, and then the project will be put out for bid. Murphy said she hopes the work can be completed by this fall.

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