THE DESTINATION
Wright Over Water | Petra Island
883 South Lake Blvd.
Mahopac, NY

THE JOURNEY
By car, 1:15 to the dock
By train, MetroNorth to Croton Falls Station and then a 10-minute Uber to the boat dock, for a total of about 1.5 hours. Make a weekend of it!

THE DETAILS
This is pricey, but it is so so unique that I decided it was worth a Field Trip post. If you are a fan of Frank Lloyd Wright, or even architecture in general, or islands, or lakes, it’s worth it.

Tours are $150 per person, semi-private and guided by a member of the family that owns the island and the house. Arrange them here or with petraislandtours@gmail.com

The island is accessible only by the owners’ pontoon boat. They meet you at a small dock in town for the 5-minute ride to the island.

THE BACKGROUND
It’s hard to know where to start, so I will back it up to the very beginning. Petra Island — on the town maps as Petre Island — an 11-acre island in the middle of Lake Mahopac, was purchased in the 1940s by Ahmed Chahroudi, who commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a guest cottage and main house — and gave the architect free rein with no budget limitations. The Chahroudi Cottage was completed in 1951, but the main house, designed in 1949, was never built thanks to permitting issues, financial problems and, eventually, Wright’s death in 1959.

Fast-forward to 1991, when a local man, Joseph Massaro, bought the island. As he told us in the tour, he didn’t even know who Frank Lloyd Wright was when he bought it — but the more he learned, the more he realized he had to complete the architect’s plans.

He spent decades fighting the town for the permits, fighting the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, which has a policy on unbuilt projects, for the drawings, and of course, amassing the funds needed to build a remarkable house like this — engineered to reach 75 feet over the water. But by 2002 he was able to start construction; the house was completed in 2008.

Wright never completed the interior design, so the Massaro family has custom made pieces to fit the unique and irregular dimensions of the house — including lighting and rugs. But the house is not strictly a museum — the family lives in it and uses the island as their second home.

“He knew how to site houses. It’s amazing. It’s nature,” Massaro said when he gave us the tour. He added that he hasn’t touched much of the rest of the island, and the 1200-square-foot guest house is basically a time capsule from 1951. There are six fireplaces, 28 skylights, and from what we could see, not a single right angle. Nearly every room has exposed rock walls. All the triangles — they are everywhere — are isosceles. Everything is redwood. “I wanted to build the house like Frank Lloyd Wright was alive.”

PITSTOP
The dock is right across from Brooklyn Organic Kitchen, a very solid diner. We were so blown away with the whole tour that we had to commiserate with our tourmates, who turned out to be from the city. The four of us had lunch and a good debrief there.

PRO TIP
This is not your usual museum tour. We rode out with Massaro and his wife, who seem to disagree on nearly everything. It’s like you’re with a long-time married couple — because you are. The couple’s daughter joined us later at the house. Just be prepared for that level of casual interaction.