PRIVATE RESIDENCE THAT HAS ITS OWN STORY TO TELL.
♪ SEAN: HOW MUCH DOES THIS LOOK LIKE IT DID AS IT FIRST OPENED AS A HOUSE?
STEPHEN: IT HAS NEVER CHANGED.
I MEAN AS LONG AS I CAN , REMEMBER, IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN LIKE THIS.
♪ SEAN: MADE OF CONCRETE BLOCKS AND SMALL WINDOWS, IT IS HARD TO MISS.
THIS IS THE FAMOUS KALIL HOUSE, DESIGNED BY FAMED ARCHITECT FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT.
STEPHEN: ALL THE FURNITURE YOU SEE HERE IS -- IT NEVER LEFT THE ROOM, YOU KNOW SINCE 1955.
,SEAN: FOR STEPHEN KALIL, THIS UNIQUE STRUCTURE IN MANCHESTER’S NORTH END WAS HOME TO FAMILY, HIS UNCLE DR. TOUFIC KALIL.
STEPHEN: I MEAN, WE KNEW IT WAS SUPER COOL.
BUT IT WAS JUST OUR UNCLE’S HOUSE.
♪ SEAN: TOUFIC KALIL EMIGRATED FROM LEBANON AS A CHILD, BECAME A DOCTOR IN MANCHESTER, AND MARRIED HIS WIFE, MILDRED.
THE COUPLE WAS GOOD FRIENDS WITH DR. ISADORE ZIMMERMAN AND HIS WIFE, LUCILLE.
STEPHEN: THEY BECAME FAST FRIENDS AND HAD COMMON INTERESTS IN TERMS OF ART AND ARCHITECTURE AND MUSIC.
SEAN: AS ARCHITECTURE BUFFS, THE ZIMMERMANS HIRED FAMED ARCHITECT FRANK LLLOYD WRIGHT TO DESIGN A HOME IN MANCHESTER’S NORTH END.
THE RESULT WAS CLASSIC LLOYD WRIGHT, NATURAL WOOD AND BRICK.
THAT BLEND WITH THE OUTSIDE.
>> NO ONE COVERS NEW HAMPSHIRE LIKE WE DO.
♪ SEAN: THE KALILS LOVED THE ARCHITECTURE SO MUCH, THEY, TOO, CONTACTED FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TO
BUILD THEM A HOME JUST A FEW DOORS DOWN, WITH A BUDGET OF $30,000 DESIGNED FOR TWO WORKING ADULTS WITH NO KID WHAT THEY GOT BACK WAS DIFFERENT THAN THE ZIMMERMAN HOUSE
STEPHEN: THE STORY GOES WHEN TOUFIQ AND MILDRED SAW THE PLANS, THEY WERE SURPRISED LIKE, "WHAT IS THIS?" WERE EXPECTING MORE LIKE SOMETHING LIKE THE ZIMMERMANS
HAD APPEARED WE WERE SURPRISED YET INTRIGUED.
SEAN: FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT SENT HIS NEWEST DESIGN FOR SOMETHING HE CALLED USONIAN AUTOMATIC.
INTENDED TO BE LESS EXPENSIVE, MADE WITH CUSTOM CONCRETE BLOCKS AND SIMPLE ENOUGH A HOMEOWNER COULD POTENTIALLY BUILD IT THEMSELVES.
FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT NEVER CAME TO NEW HAMPSHIRE.
IN FACT, IT WAS HIS ASSOCIATE MORTON DELSON WHO OVERSAW THE PROJECT, WHICH TOOK ABOUT TWO YEARS TO COMPLETE.
THE END RESULT WAS A 1400-SQUARE-FOOT, TWO-BEDROOM HOME ENCASED IN TWO-FOOT B ONE-FOOT CONCRETE BLOCKS WHAT IS AMAZING ABOUT THE KALIL HOUSE -- ALMOST ALL OF THE
WRIGHT-DESIGNED FEATURES AND FURNITURE BUILT IN 1955 ARE STILL EXACTLY THE SAME STEPHEN: THAT IS, I THINK, WHAT I THINK IS SPECIAL ABOUT THE HOUSE.
IT IS A TIME CAPSULE YOU WALK INTO THIS HOUSE, AND IT IS LIKE, "WOAH." IT IS LIKE "MADMEN." SEAN: FOR STEPHEN, WHO VISITED HERE AS A KID, WALKING THE HOME
IS LIKE TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE.
STEPHEN: THIS IS MY UNCLE TOUFIC WHEN HE GRADUATED MEDICAL SCHOOL IN 193 SEAN: IN CLASSIC WRIGHT STYLE, THE MANY WINDOWS CONNECT YOU T THE OUTDOORS
AND SMALL HALLWAYS OPEN TO LARGE SPACES, LIKE THE MAIN SEATING AREA.
STEPHEN: IT IS GREAT FOR ENTERTAINING.
WE HAD A COUPLE OF FAMILY PARTIES HERE.
IT IS NICE AND OPEN.
EVEN THE ORIGINAL STEREO SYSTEM STILL WORK STEPHEN: IT SOUNDS FANTASTIC.
IT IS, Y KNOW, IT IS A TUBE AMP AND A TUBE RECEIVER.
SEAN: THE KITCHEN AREA, OR WORKSPACE, AS IT IS KNOWN IN WRIGHT SPEAK, DOES HAVE A NEW REFRIGERATOR AND DISHWASHER, B EVERYTHING ELSE IS ORIGINAL AND STILL WORKS, INCLUDING THE
INDOOR CHARCOAL GRIL STEPHEN: IT TAKES THE FUMES AN SEAN: TO GET IT READY TO SELL, THE FAMILY SPENT TENS OF THOUSANDS TO MAKE REPAIRS AND MAINTAIN THE ORIGINAL
ARCHITECTURE, INCLUDING RECREATING THOSE FAMED CONCRET BLOCKS FOR AN OUTDOOR WALL.
STEPHEN: SO WHAT YOU SEE HERE IS KIND OF HOW THE HOUSE WAS BUILT.
REBAR IN BETWEEN EACH BLOC EACH BLOCK HAS A VOID IN THE EDGE THAT GROUT IS THEN POURED INTO TO MAKE IT MONOLITHIC.
YOU KNOW THIS IS NOT GOING , ANYWHERE.
SEAN: THE BACKYARD ALSO FEATURES A MINI VERSION OF THE USOANIAN A 264-SQUARE-FOOT BUILDING FILLED WITH NATURAL LIGH DO YOU KNOW WHAT YOUR UNCLE INTENDED TO DO WITH IT?
STEPHEN: YEAH, IT WAS INTENDED TO BE AN IN-LAW APARTMENT.
SEAN: NO KITCHEN OR BATHROOM WERE EVER INSTALLED FOR AN IN-LAW.
IN FACT, DR. KALIL ENDED UP STORING HIS LAWN MOWER INSIDE.
TOUFIC AND MILDRED KALIL LIVED IN THE HOUSE FOR DECADES.
BY 1990, BOTH HAD PASSED AWAY.
ANOTHER UNCLE, JOHN, LIVED IN THE HOME UNTIL HE PASSED IN 2018 FOR THE REMAINING FAMILY, LETTING THE HOUSE GO ON THE MARKET WAS A TOUGH DECISION.
BUT NOW THIS UNIQUE PIECE OF HISTORY WILL BE OPEN FOR PUBLIC TOURS, PRESERVING THE KALIL’S DREAM HOME FOR GENERATIONS TO COME STEPHEN: I THINK, IN LARGE PART,
THAT IS HIS LEGACY, HIS IMPRINT ON OUR GENERATION, WAS HIS LOV OF ART, ARCHITECTURE, MUSIC.
AND, YOU KNOW, W JUST ABSORBED IT, AND IT IS PART OF WHO WE ARE.
VERY THANKFUL FOR IT.