Auldbrass Plantation

Auldbrass Plantation (1940–1951) near Yemassee, South Carolina is one of the most unusual and ambitious commissions of Wright's career — a complete working plantation complex in the South Carolina lowcountry, roughly midway between Charleston and Savannah. The client was Leigh Stevens, a businessman who wanted a winter retreat and working farm. Wright designed the entire complex using a hexagonal planning grid — the main house, guest cottage, farm manager's house, stables, kennels, and outbuildings all share the same angled geometry, creating a unified organic ensemble unlike anything else in Wright's work. The buildings are constructed of cypress wood and brick, with the characteristic low rooflines and broad overhanging eaves that echo the flat, moss-draped landscape of the lowcountry. The plantation fell into severe disrepair after Stevens's death but was purchased in 1986 by actor and producer Joel Silver, who undertook a decades-long restoration. Auldbrass is a private estate and not open to the public, but it is occasionally opened for the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation's annual fundraising event. Rick McNees does not have a dedicated page for Auldbrass on the Wright-Site archive.