Mason City Architecture
June 18, 2008 
Trippy: a short visual trip to a place of architectural or design importance
Trippy to: the houses and commercial buildings in Mason City, Iowa, a town of about 30,000 residents known for being the home of Meredith Wilson, musician and author of the beloved Music Man, and famous puppeteer Bil Baird -- remember his alpine puppets used by Julie Andrews and the VonTrapp children in The Sound of Music?
What's to see? Mason City, for its size, is chock-full of interesting residential and commercial architecture. This is one site where you can find the only existing hotel (out of 6) designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, the 1910 Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank complex, and his 1908 Stockman House. It's also the home to important residential architecture by Walter Burley Griffin (also known for his civic designs of Canberra, the capital of Australia) and Marion Mahoney Griffin. The Griffin's Rock Crest-Rock Glen parcel of 18 acres along the Willow River is the largest Prairie School collection of homes in a natural setting. Projects by noted Prairie School architects William Drummond and Barry Byrne are also in Mason City.
Location: Mason City, Iowa, which is in north central Iowa, almost midway between Des Moines, IA (south) and Minneapolis, MN (north)
Mason City Architecture Sampler:
Photo credits: Stockman House Museum, Iowa Architecture, Fred Camper, Steinerag, Offenburger.com, Radio Iowa, Walter Burley Griffin Society, The Journal Times, Peter Beers
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