One of the Biggest Cons of Owning a Frank Lloyd Wright Home Is Actually Hilarious

Owning a Frank Lloyd Wright home is a prestigious flex — or, more likely, a pipe dream. Known for his long prairie-style builds, minimalist yet spacious interiors, and long glass windows that connect the indoors with the outdoor space, the prolific American architect is a household name even outside of the design community. While countless people dream of having a home built by the architecture giant, a TikToker is hilariously revealing why living in a Frank Lloyd Wright home might not be all it’s cracked up to be.

In a December 8 TikTok video shared by @Grace.lvgp, the creator gives her followers an inside look at “the sick twisted reality of cleaning the windows in a Frank Lloyd Wright home.” While Wright was known for his prairie-style buildings’ elaborate window designs, many of which featured gorgeous stained glass and intricate geometric shapes, these so-called “light screens” might be more decorative than practical for homeowners.

The TikToker revealed that it had taken her an hour to clean one such window, demonstrating how she used Q-tips to delicately clean the fragile glass panels and get the dust out of the tiny grooves where the window was connected to the wall. In response to the clip, which showed her meticulously dusting one area with the tiny Q-tip, one viewer summed up the collective reaction as they wrote that they needed to be de-influenced “from buying a Frank Lloyd Wright house.”

While @Grace.lvgp doesn’t actually live in a Frank Lloyd Wright house, she revealed that she works in one, and oftentimes is put on cleaning duty. In a separate video, the creator answered questions about the unusual cleaning process as she showed herself dusting down a glass Frank Lloyd Wright door with some Q-tips and a microfiber towel for the larger sections. 

She revealed that she and the rest of the team were forced to resort to these tools as toothbrushes and other scrubby-type instruments were too rough on the delicate, over-100-year-old glass. She also didn’t use Lysol or other harsh cleaning products on the more than 175 (!) glass windows in the house. As one commenter noted, “so by the time you get to cleaning the last one, it’s time to start all over again.”

In short, if your bucket list includes owning a home built by Frank Lloyd Wright, you might want to consider some of the less practical elements of owning one of these historic landmarks before purchasing them when they come on the market. 

In addition to taking care of the delicate glass, one commenter noted of their experience, “everything was expensive to fix, and you couldn’t … go buy a chair you liked because it wouldn’t fit with the decor.”

However, these 175 windows also come with plenty of natural light and a gorgeous ambience, which might make the hassle worth it to some people. As one person noted, “They’re beautiful, and I’d kill to live in one even with complicated cleaning.”