This is a photograph of William Allen White's house located at 927 Exchange in Emporia, Kansas. The home is made of bright sandstone from Colorado, which covers the first story. The top two stories of the house are red pressed brick, stucco, and wood strips. The red sandstone is believed to be from a quarry in Red Rock Canyon near the Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado. Almerin Gillett, a lawyer and cattle entrepreneur, began building the house around April 1888. Due to drought and a drop in the cattle market, Gillett was unable to complete the construction. The house was later purchased by William Allen White and in 1915 he wrote to architect Frank Lloyd Wright and suggested that he "do over" the house. Wright soon began to develop preliminary designs for the house. White and Wright continued their discussions of design until around November 1919, when White contacted the architectural firm of Wight & Wight in Kansas City.
The renovation began in March 1920 under close direction from William Allen and Sallie White. The Wight design retained much from the Frank Lloyd Wright plans. The former Queen Anne was changed to a Tudor Revival. Here the White family entertained several U.S. presidents-- Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Warren Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover-- and prominent Americans, such as Edna Ferber, Frank Lloyd Wright, Walt Mason, and Jane Addams.
![]()
