Many who know something of the history of Eichler Homes are aware that my grandfather (Joseph Eichler) rented a Frank Lloyd Wright house in Hillsborough, CA for a couple of years, and that it was the experience of living in that house that sparked my grandfather's interest in Modern architecture. However, many do not know that, when Eichler Homes had become an established home-building company, he sought out Wright to see if Wright might be interested in designing some homes for him, which resulted in an interesting anecdote.
When my grandfather met Wright to discuss the possibility of obtaining some designs from him, Wright asked my grandfather what his goals were. My grandfather said something like "to make affordable, high-quality modern architectural design available to the common man." According my father, Wright's reply was something like "#$%& the common man; build homes for the uncommon man." And that was the end of that.
