The Walker Guest House, in Florida, was a breakthrough for the architect Midcentury architect Paul Rudolph?s Walker Guest House, on Sanibel Island, in Florida, is soon to hit the real estate market. According to the Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation, the house, sitting on 1.6 acres, will be listed for $6,795,000 in the coming weeks.
Commissioned in 1952, the 576-square-foot Walker Guest House is a leading example of the Sarasota Modern movement and Rudolph?s response to Mies van der Rohe?s International Style Farnsworth House.
In an earlier piece for Curbed, Timothy Rohan wrote:
With its lightweight, white wood frame, the Walker House was Rudolph?s ?poor man?s? version of the Farnsworth?s expensive white, steel frame, whose beauty he could not help but admire. Rudolph corrected the main drawback of the Farnsworth House, evident as well in the Glass House (New Canaan, CT, 1945-49) by Philip Johnson: lack of privacy. The house?s shutters controlled by a rigging system similar to those found on sailboats let the occupants choose how much privacy they want?either a ?snug cottage? or a ?large screened pavilion,? as Rudolph described?and protect the house from rain and wind.

Paul Rudolph Heritage Foundation Archives
Plan drawing showing shutters that can be raised up for more privacy.

This was Rudolph?s first commission after he opened his own practice and in his later years he considered it one of his favorite designs. It?s currently still used b...