architect who had studied under Wright in the 1930s. Although early meetings were successful, Gerald and Rosalie were ultimately unhappy with the architect's design and cancelled their agreement in early 1954. After some discussion, they decided to contact Wright himself with a proposal for the house and a budget of $25,000. Shortly thereafter, Wright invited them to Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin to discuss the design. Their meeting was a success and the first half of 1954 was spent discussing designs via letter and telegram between the Tonkens and Wright's personal assistant Eugene Beyer "Gene" Masselink. In mid-1954 Wright asked if the couple would be interested in being his ‘guinea pigs’ stating his desire to design their home as “an experiment in Usonian Automatic architecture”. They agreed, and Wright's preliminary designs for the home were completed in October of the same year. Drawings for the Tonkens House were completed by Frank Lloyd Wright, his grandson and apprentice, Eric Lloyd Wright, and John H. "Jack" Howe. John deKoven Hill and Cornelia Brierly were landscape designers on the project. Engineering drawings were completed by William Wesley Peters, Edmond Thomas "Tom" Casey and Mendel Glickman. Glickman was also solely responsible for the ceiling block engineering. Furniture, upholstery and fabric selections for the house were supervised by John deKoven Hill. Final drawings and specifications were presented to Gerald and Rosalie on February 25, 1955, and approved soon after. The 'Tonkens House' would be assigned project number 5510 by the Taliesin Foundation. The final design featured three bedrooms, one study, two bathrooms, Philippine mahogany paneling throughout, a grand living room (the Great Room) with a cantilevered fireplace, two carports and two storage sheds. A comprehensive furniture plan included built-in pieces as well as Frank Lloyd Wright designed furniture from his collection for Henredon Furniture, and Wright designed upholstery. The house remained in the Tonkens family for over six decades, until it was sold to a private buyer in 2015. Construction The Tonkens hired local contractor, Horace Wersel, to be the project lead and Cincinnati firm Harvard Construction Co. to build the house. The construction of the Tonkens House was overseen by the Taliesin Fellowship, which was represented by Eric Lloyd Wright. Wright spent over a year living in Cincinnati while overseeing the construction of the home. Such close supervision was unusual, and the Tonkens House was the first Usonian Automatic structure to be solely directed