Pasadena’s Millard House Inspires New Wool Collection From Wright Foundation Partnership

The decorative concrete blocks that Frank Lloyd Wright built into the walls of a Pasadena ravine a century ago have found a second life — woven into wool.

Faribault Mill, a 161-year-old Minnesota manufacturer, on Tuesday announced a three-year partnership with the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation to produce a collection of throws and pillow cases inspired by Wright’s architectural designs, according to a press release from the company. Among the initial six products is one drawn from the patterned blocks of the Millard House, the 1923 Pasadena residence where Wright first used his textile block construction method. The collection launches March 16.

The Millard House, also known as La Miniatura, sits at 645 Prospect Crescent in the Prospect Historic District. Wright designed the three-story home for rare-book dealer Alice Millard, fabricating its concrete blocks from sand, gravel and minerals found on the property. It was the first of four textile block houses he designed in Greater Los Angeles in the 1920s — the others being the Ennis House, Storer House and Freeman House — and it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976.

Wright once said he would rather have built the Millard House than St. Peter’s in Rome. The blocks that earned that devotion — each bearing a symmetrical cross-and-square pattern — are the basis for the new Millard House Textile Block Pillow Case, a wool-blend product that recreates the motifs in fiber, according to the company’s product listing.

The full initial line includes three wool throws — inspired by the Hollyhock House and Ennis House in Los Angeles and by Wright’s 1927 Frozen Spheres design for Liberty Magazine — and three pillow cases drawn from the Ennis House, the Coonley Playhouse in Riverside, Illinois, and the Millard House. All six are crafted in Minnesota from a blend of 85 percent wool and 15 percent cotton, according to the company.

“We are thrilled to partner on a collection that celebrates the timeless brilliance of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural vision,” Ross Widmoyer, president and CEO of Faribault Mill, said in the press release. “Just as Wright harmonized form and function, our blankets blend heritage craftsmanship with iconic design — creating pieces that are as beautiful as they are enduring.”

A portion of each purchase will be donated to the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, the company said, though the specific percentage was not disclosed. The Foundation, which Wright established in 1940, is dedicated to preserving Taliesin and Taliesin West, both UNESCO World Heritage sites.

“We’re honored to partner with a brand with such a long heritage of craftsmanship and enduring quality,” Henry Hendrix, the Foundation’s chief marketing officer, said in the press release. “By partnering with Faribault Mill, we’re offering a beautiful new way to translate Wright’s timeless principles into objects of comfort and beauty for the home.”

The collection will be sold at Faribault Mill retail locations, online at faribaultmill.com, and through select retailers, museums and gift shops nationwide. Additional products are planned throughout the three-year partnership.

Faribault Mill, founded in 1865, is one of the last fully integrated vertical woolen mills in the United States, producing finished products from raw fiber under one roof at its facility along the Cannon River in Faribault, Minnesota. The company’s products are made entirely in the U.S.

The Millard House remains a privately owned residence and is not open for public tours, but its upper portions are visible from the street. It sits a few blocks from the Gamble House, another landmark of American residential architecture in Pasadena.