The NCR Corporation returned the Wright mansion, which is located in Oakwood, Ohio to the Wright family after 58 years of ownership.
The Wrights moved into their beautiful white pillared new house in Oakwood on April 28, 1914. It was designed for all of them, including their father, to spend the rest of their lives in comfort. For Orville, in particular, it served as a refuge from the dissonance of the outside world.
The family had lived at 7 Hawthorne St. in Dayton for forty-two years, but the neighborhood was beginning to decay so they decided it was time to move.
Orville and Wilbur originally had their eye on moving to a small lot within the city of Dayton located at the corner of Salem Avenue and Harvard Boulevard. Katharine didn’t like the location. It was too close to the center of the city. She wanted a wooded lot on a hill. The brothers grumbled for a while but acquiesced to her wishes. A United Methodist Church stands at the location today.
They found just what she wanted in Oakwood, a city adjoining Dayton to the South. Oakwood contains many affluent homes because John H. Patterson, the founder and President of the NCR Corporation (formerly, National Cash Register Co.) encouraged his executives to live there.
They purchased 17 acres with woods and a hill February 1912, near the corner of Park Drive and Harmon Road and began working together with the architectural firm of Schenck & Williams to design a house that they would all like. Construction began in August with ground preparation. The house, which cost $50,000, was completed in 1914.
Orville and Katharine purchased new furniture for the new house, leaving much of the old furniture behind in the Hawthorne Street house. They spent four days in Grand Rapids, Michigan, buying household furnishings from Berkey and Gay Furniture Co.
It may have been Katharine’s dream, but Orville took over managing the project. He paid close attention to every detail of the construction and interior decorating. Some examples are presented below.
Orville didn’t like the shade of red on the mahogany interior doors. The painters couldn’t get it right to his satisfaction so he dismissed them. He experimented with different mixes in his laboratory in downtown Dayton until he got the color he wanted, then painted the doors himself.
Orville designed an unusual chimney for the living room based on the principle of a Pitot-Tube. It took some work to get it just as he wanted it.
He also designed his own private bathroom. Katharine and her father, Milton, shared theirs.
He designed and installed a special circular shower consisting of a complex system of pipes and showerheads that would spray soothing water over his bad back to ease the pain that plagued him since his near fatal airplane crash at Fort Myer in 1908.
He used a tarp that covered the 1903 Flyer at Kitty Hawk for his shower curtain. Beneath the bathroom floor, Orville installed protective shields to prevent any leaks from staining the ceiling below.
He used rainwater for hot and cold bath water because it was mineral free. He had it piped from the roof into a cistern. The water from this cistern was then pumped through a special filter to a second cistern. The filter removed sediment, color and odor.
Wilbur took little interest in the building project. Although he did once complain that too much space was being wasted on halls. The one thing he did want for himself was his own bedroom and bathroom. He got what he wanted.
Tragically, Wilbur died of Typhoid Fever in 1912 before construction began and never lived in the house.
They named the house Hawthorn Hill, after the name of their boyhood house on Hawthorne St. and also in honor of the prickly-needled Hawthorn tree that once stood in the middle of Huffman Prairie and the Hawthorn trees on their new Oakwood property.
The style of the mansion is Georgian- Colonial. They observed such a mansion on a trip to Virginia and decided that they wanted that style for their own house.
Two identical entrances consisting of pillared facades were constructed, one for Orville and one for Wilbur. Orville’s entrance was on the south side and faced a long circular driveway that wound up the hill to the entrance. Wilbur’s, on the north side, faced a downward sloping lawn.
Inside the house, a wide and elegant reception hall joined the two entrances.
The morning sun shown into Wilbur’s room window.
The windows in the house swing open to create cross-ventilation to keep the house cool even on warm days.
Bishop Wright lived in the home until his death in 1917.
My wife and I have been in the mansion several times and it is a comfortable house. The study was his favorite room and it has been left exactly like it was at the time of his death. Except for Orville’s study and his bedroom, the house has been updated and redecorated. His favorite overstuffed easy chair that he had modified to ease his discomfort is still there. He drilled a vertical hole in each arm of the chair for placement of a homemade book-holder that could be moved from side to side.
His reading glasses are still on his stand next to the chair. He removed one of the side pieces so that he could remove the glasses easily. Efficiency was an important consideration for Orville.
He tinkered with everything in the house. He installed a commercial compressed air vacuum system that was contained within the walls similar to those used in some modern houses today. Carrie Kayler, their housekeeper, who went to work for the family when she was 14 years old, wouldn’t use it so Orville cleaned the floors himself.
He also designed the basic plumbing, heating and electrical system. The controls for the heating system were in his bedroom. Orville designed special wiring that ran through a hole in the floor in the bedroom, then through the living room floor to the furnace in the basement. He was the only one who knew how to operate the controls.
A friend of mine relates the story of his boss at NCR being dispatched to deliver a package to Orville at his home. Orville answered the door with his sleeves rolled up and dirty hands. He invited him in and proceeded to the kitchen where he had dismantled the refrigerator. The parts were scattered on the floor.
The mansion was used for family weddings. Lorin’s daughters, Ivonette and Leontine were both married there.
The mansion was also was host to many distinguished visitors. They included Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, General Hap Arnold, Charles Lindbergh, General Billy Mitchell, Admiral Richard Byrd, Henry Ford, Carl Sandburg, Charles Kettering, John H. Patterson and Edward Deeds.
When Orville died in 1948, there were a number of proposals concerning the future of the mansion. One was for the Federal Government to buy it. A proposal was submitted to Congress, but nothing came of it because Congress didn’t want to spend any more money on national memorials.
Another proposal was for the City of Oakwood to buy it. The Oakwood City Council scotched the proposal because they would have to propose a bond issue to raise the money.
The Wright family didn’t have the money to buy it either.
Finally, the co-executor of the estate, Harold Miller, who was the husband of Lorin’s daughter Ivonette, listed the house with a real-estate agent.
The first day that the “for sale” signs went up in the lawn. The NCR came forward and purchased the house for $75,000. Edward Deeds, a long time friend of Orville’s and a top executive with NCR, was instrumental in the NCR purchase. NCR used the house for important corporate visitors. It is not open to the public because the neighbors don’t want the commotion and traffic and there is insufficient parking space.
It is fortunate that the NCR purchased the house because it has been kept in pristine condition. In 1991 it was listed on the National register of Historic Places and its appraised value today is $1,096,820. The market price is believed to be much higher.
One of the first moves by the NCR was to install a modern plumbing and heating system to replace the complex system that had resulted from years of Orville’s tinkering. Orville did all of the plumbing work himself; he never allowed a plumber to do any work in Hawthorn Hill.
The return of the house to the Wright family by the NCR after 58 years of ownership occurred on August 18, 2006. The date is significant because it comes on the 135th anniversary of Orville’s birthday that occurred on the 19th.
NCR’s president and chief executive Bill Nutti handed the keys to the house to Amanda Wright Lane, great-grand niece of Wilbur and Orville and Stephen Wright, great-grandnephew. They represented the Wright Family Foundation.
The Wright Family Foundation is a nonprofit fund established through the Dayton Foundation by the late “Wick” Wright, the Wright brothers’ grandnephew. Amanda and Stephen are the foundation’s trustees.
The foundation will assume the $75,000 annual cost of operating and maintaining the property.
Hawthorn Hill is not a part of the Dayton Aviation Heritage National Park Service and for the immediate future the policy of not opening the home for public tours will continue. This policy may change later on.
The White Mansion on the Hill
The NCR Corporation returned the Wright mansion, which is located in Oakwood, Ohio to the Wright family after 58 years of ownership.
The Wrights moved into their beautiful white pillared new house in Oakwood on April 28, 1914. It was designed for all of them, including their father, to spend the rest of their lives in comfort. For Orville, in particular, it served as a refuge from the dissonance of the outside world.
The family had lived at 7 Hawthorne St. in Dayton for forty-two years, but the neighborhood was beginning to decay so they decided it was time to move.
Orville and Wilbur originally had their eye on moving to a small lot within the city of Dayton located at the corner of Salem Avenue and Harvard Boulevard. Katharine didn’t like the location. It was too close to the center of the city. She wanted a wooded lot on a hill. The brothers grumbled for a while but acquiesced to her wishes. A United Methodist Church stands at the location today.
They found just what she wanted in Oakwood, a city adjoining Dayton to the South. Oakwood contains many affluent homes because John H. Patterson, the founder and President of the NCR Corporation (formerly, National Cash Register Co.) encouraged his executives to live there.
They purchased 17 acres with woods and a hill February 1912, near the corner of Park Drive and Harmon Road and began working together with the architectural firm of Schenck & Williams to design a house that they would all like. Construction began in August with ground preparation. The house, which cost $50,000, was completed in 1914.
Orville and Katharine purchased new furniture for the new house, leaving much of the old furniture behind in the Hawthorne Street house. They spent four days in Grand Rapids, Michigan, buying household furnishings from Berkey and Gay Furniture Co.
It may have been Katharine’s dream, but Orville took over managing the project. He paid close attention to every detail of the construction and interior decorating. Some examples are presented below.
Orville didn’t like the shade of red on the mahogany interior doors. The painters couldn’t get it right to his satisfaction so he dismissed them. He experimented with different mixes in his laboratory in downtown Dayton until he got the color he wanted, then painted the doors himself.
Orville designed an unusual chimney for the living room based on the principle of a Pitot-Tube. It took some work to get it just as he wanted it.
He also designed his own private bathroom. Katharine and her father, Milton, shared theirs.
He designed and installed a special circular shower consisting of a complex system of pipes and showerheads that would spray soothing water over his bad back to ease the pain that plagued him since his near fatal airplane crash at Fort Myer in 1908.
He used a tarp that covered the 1903 Flyer at Kitty Hawk for his shower curtain. Beneath the bathroom floor, Orville installed protective shields to prevent any leaks from staining the ceiling below.
He used rainwater for hot and cold bath water because it was mineral free. He had it piped from the roof into a cistern. The water from this cistern was then pumped through a special filter to a second cistern. The filter removed sediment, color and odor.
Wilbur took little interest in the building project. Although he did once complain that too much space was being wasted on halls. The one thing he did want for himself was his own bedroom and bathroom. He got what he wanted.
Tragically, Wilbur died of Typhoid Fever in 1912 before construction began and never lived in the house.
They named the house Hawthorn Hill, after the name of their boyhood house on Hawthorne St. and also in honor of the prickly-needled Hawthorn tree that once stood in the middle of Huffman Prairie and the Hawthorn trees on their new Oakwood property.
The style of the mansion is Georgian- Colonial. They observed such a mansion on a trip to Virginia and decided that they wanted that style for their own house.
Two identical entrances consisting of pillared facades were constructed, one for Orville and one for Wilbur. Orville’s entrance was on the south side and faced a long circular driveway that wound up the hill to the entrance. Wilbur’s, on the north side, faced a downward sloping lawn.
Inside the house, a wide and elegant reception hall joined the two entrances.
The morning sun shown into Wilbur’s room window.
The windows in the house swing open to create cross-ventilation to keep the house cool even on warm days.
Bishop Wright lived in the home until his death in 1917.
My wife and I have been in the mansion several times and it is a comfortable house. The study was his favorite room and it has been left exactly like it was at the time of his death. Except for Orville’s study and his bedroom, the house has been updated and redecorated. His favorite overstuffed easy chair that he had modified to ease his discomfort is still there. He drilled a vertical hole in each arm of the chair for placement of a homemade book-holder that could be moved from side to side.
His reading glasses are still on his stand next to the chair. He removed one of the side pieces so that he could remove the glasses easily. Efficiency was an important consideration for Orville.
He tinkered with everything in the house. He installed a commercial compressed air vacuum system that was contained within the walls similar to those used in some modern houses today. Carrie Kayler, their housekeeper, who went to work for the family when she was 14 years old, wouldn’t use it so Orville cleaned the floors himself.
He also designed the basic plumbing, heating and electrical system. The controls for the heating system were in his bedroom. Orville designed special wiring that ran through a hole in the floor in the bedroom, then through the living room floor to the furnace in the basement. He was the only one who knew how to operate the controls.
A friend of mine relates the story of his boss at NCR being dispatched to deliver a package to Orville at his home. Orville answered the door with his sleeves rolled up and dirty hands. He invited him in and proceeded to the kitchen where he had dismantled the refrigerator. The parts were scattered on the floor.
The mansion was used for family weddings. Lorin’s daughters, Ivonette and Leontine were both married there.
The mansion was also was host to many distinguished visitors. They included Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, General Hap Arnold, Charles Lindbergh, General Billy Mitchell, Admiral Richard Byrd, Henry Ford, Carl Sandburg, Charles Kettering, John H. Patterson and Edward Deeds.
When Orville died in 1948, there were a number of proposals concerning the future of the mansion. One was for the Federal Government to buy it. A proposal was submitted to Congress, but nothing came of it because Congress didn’t want to spend any more money on national memorials.
Another proposal was for the City of Oakwood to buy it. The Oakwood City Council scotched the proposal because they would have to propose a bond issue to raise the money.
The Wright family didn’t have the money to buy it either.
Finally, the co-executor of the estate, Harold Miller, who was the husband of Lorin’s daughter Ivonette, listed the house with a real-estate agent.
The first day that the “for sale” signs went up in the lawn. The NCR came forward and purchased the house for $75,000. Edward Deeds, a long time friend of Orville’s and a top executive with NCR, was instrumental in the NCR purchase. NCR used the house for important corporate visitors. It is not open to the public because the neighbors don’t want the commotion and traffic and there is insufficient parking space.
It is fortunate that the NCR purchased the house because it has been kept in pristine condition. In 1991 it was listed on the National register of Historic Places and its appraised value today is $1,096,820. The market price is believed to be much higher.