Museum acquires Frank Lloyd Wright's home; plans to move it 2000km

The Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, opened in 2011 by the Walton family of Walmart fame, has acquired the Bachman Wilson House that was built 60 years ago in Millstone village.

The museum didn’t say how much it paid for the 2,000 square foot residence that reflected Wright’s signature Usonian design philosophy, but its sellers had reportedly put it on the market for $1.5 million — moving costs included.

Wright, who died in 1959 at the age of 91, had been asked to design the low-slung house when he was engaged in creating one of his best-known buildings, the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

But it had sustained flooding from a nearby river so often over the years that its architect-owners put it up for sale in 2012 on condition that the buyer preserve it, contents intact, at a new and drier location.

Crystal Bridges said it would reassemble the house on its 120 acre (nearly 50 hectare) grounds, where visitors will be able to tour it from 2015.