Kenneth Laurent served with the U.S. Navy during World War II, returning to Rockford on March 17, 1946.

However, after only a few months, he began exhibiting severe pain in his midsection and lost the feeling in his legs.

After rehabilitation at the Edward Hines Jr. VA Hospital, he received compensation as part of the Specially Adapted Housing program.

The article was a review of Frank Lloyd Wright's Loren Pope Residence in Falls Church, Virginia, which was built for the author.

Kenneth wrote to Wright in August 1948, suggesting that he design a house on an urban lot that the Laurents had selected.

[3] Wright disliked the lot that the Laurents had suggested and urged his clients to pick a site on the fringes of the city.

The Rinehimer Manufacturing Company provided red tidewater cypress for the interior walls and exterior trim.

Wright also visited the Laurents, stopping by the house with Hill and Edgar Kaufmann Jr.

[2] It was expected to open for tours in the summer of 2013, but a storm damaged the roof; the Laurent House Foundation intends to raise $500,000 to repair it.

It is primarily built with red tidewater cypress and Chicago common brick; plans originally called for limestone, but the Laurents rejected the additional cost.