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Unicorn Farm

Season 1 Episode 7 | 7m 50sVideo has Closed Captions | CC

Unicorn Farm is a one-of-a-kind home in northern Idaho.

Aired 09/22/2023 | Rating TV-G

Unicorn Farm Season 1 Episode 7 | 7m 50sVideo has Closed Captions | CC

Unicorn Farm is a one-of-a-kind home in northern Idaho.

Unicorn Farm is an ultimate example of Organic Architecture. It’s site-specific with an earthen roof, which makes it very unique, and is the brainchild of architect Joseph Henry Wythe

(1920-2019). Wythe, a student of architect Bruce Goff (a follower of Frank Lloyd Wright), constructed the home in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s in Bonner County, Idaho.

Aired 09/22/2023 | Rating TV-G

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About This EpisodeTranscriptYou Might Also LikeUnicorn Farm Season 1 Episode 7 | 7m 50sVideo has Closed Captions | CC

Unicorn Farm is an ultimate example of Organic Architecture. It’s site-specific with an earthen roof, which makes it very unique, and is the brainchild of architect Joseph Henry Wythe

(1920-2019). Wythe, a student of architect Bruce Goff (a follower of Frank Lloyd Wright), constructed the home in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s in Bonner County, Idaho.

Aired 09/22/2023 | Rating TV-G

Problems playing video?  Report a Problem | Closed Captioning Feedback

Before you submit an error, please consult our Video Help page.

Type of ErrorVideo doesn’t loadVideo loads, but doesn’t playVideo jumps back/forwardOnly audio is streamingSponsorship playback errorOtherSubmitCancelGenreArts and MusicMaturity

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Unicorn Farm S1 Ep7

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You just take one look at the house and you know this is special.

These are the original blueprints.

This to me is just a stunning amount of detail, and I know that this was his dream to build this.

So that's Unicorn Farm.

It has a kind of a magical quality about it.

I am Joseph Henry Wythe.

I’m an architect.

Been at this, uh, 70-some odd years now.

Lois said, “Well, I'll go up and I'll look around for our ideal property where we can build our dream house.” Well, we wanted property on the water because we want to watch the wildlife come

down to the water.

We didn’t want to advertise that we're setting up a wildlife sanctuary.

Real estate agent asked her “What kind of property you want?” she said, “Well, we want a rural property where we can do some farming.” “Uh, what are you going to grow on a farm?” Lois dodged

the question.

And so he kept coming back to it, and she finally got exasperated.

And she says, “I’ll tell you what, we're going to raise unicorns.” So when Lois called back that night, she says, “I haven't found our property, but I know what we're going to call it.” This

is a house that's related to Frank Lloyd Wright and one of his followers by the name of Bruce Goff.

Mr. Wythe, who built his house, was his student and continued on the rest of his life as a person that was environmentally acute, and wanted to do architecture that was unique to its site

rather than just another box.

This house is part of a kind of architecture that is often called “Organic Architecture.” And that are organicness means that it's related to the earth and site-specific.

But the fact that it has an earthen roof is very, very unique, because most organic houses were not earth-assisted.

so the name ‘Unicorn’ really works here, because there are about as many of these kinds of houses as there are unicorns.

You see the front entrance as you're coming down the driveway.

But even there, you know, you don't see it immediately.

As you come in, you’re, you enter a kind of an enchanted forest.

This road bends around so you don't see very far into that forest.

And so this winding through the forest instead of a straight line up to the front door, is unusual.

In an organic house, you don't enter all at once.

As you go down the hallway, you're intrigued to see what's around the bend.

And so this continuous experience of changing the views as you come through the house, it creates this feeling that you want to see more of it.

Explore.

Well, what are the beauties of this space?

That's what makes it organic, because you and the building are reacting together.

I knew that we wanted the opening towards the south.

It could be dug into the side so we could do an Earth shelter house.

We need an outside living space, a screened porch that was accessible to the main living space.

The idea of a Great Room, uh, appealed to me.

They all could converse back and forth between the various areas.

And the fireplace is where it can be seen from all three areas.

So that was the basic concept.

And then, so it came, it came together rather quickly.

And from that, uh, I saw that they were arranged at a, a 45-degree angle from the basic outside.

So the house wound up, uh, based on an angle of multiples of 22- and-a-half degrees.

22-and-a-half, 45, on up to 90 and 180 degrees.

So as you look at the floorplan of this house, you can see those multiple angles coming into play.

Just worked out very beautifully.

Before we saw it, we knew nothing about it.

We didn't know it existed.

We decided that if we didn't try to buy it we’d regret it forever.

And here we are, uh, we bought it in 2020.

And it's now 2023 and we're still learning things about the place.

It's pretty fascinating.

It's, uh, peaceful.

It's quiet.

Every season, you get a different view out the same window.

I think Mr. Wythe, as he aged, he just couldn't keep up with the place, There was anything wrong with the place; it had just been neglected.

We did some tree removal, tore everything off those banks in front of the house, opened up a lot of spaces.

The biggest thing of the roof, by far.

And we knew it leaked when we bought the house.

When we found that the seams were the problem, that was actually a blessing, because it became very easy to fix.

So all we've had to do now is reseal all the seams, and everywhere we've done that, the leaks have stopped.

These creative houses have a hard time living in the modern world, because it's hard to find people to take care of them.

You have to work hard.

I think Christopher has been pretty creative about taking care of this house.

I’m not a builder.

I'm not a contractor.

You know, I’m an accountant who happens to think he's good at stuff and, um, can follow directions, but it's been a lot of fun.

A lady came through this house one time and she says, “You know, this, this house feels like it loves me.

It feels like it's wrapping its arms around me and giving me a great big hug.” It's a pretty special place.

Fell pretty darn fortunate be living here.

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createid is a local public television program presented by IdahoPTV

Funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and the Idaho Public Television Endowment.