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In response to the flood of people moving to the cities during the 1930s, Frank Lloyd Wright designed a solution. His philosophy of organic architecture, structures built of natural materials as if growing from the environment, led to the creation of Usonian houses for middle income Americans. The homes were streamlined without garages, front porches, chimneys, or other structures to distract from the natural flow of the buildings line.

In 1932, Wright designed a town based on the Usonian house. He called it Broadacre City. This city plan was to incorporate the use of greenbelts and open space. For Frank Lloyd Wright, it was very important for the exterior environment to be visible to the inside of the home. This idea was revolutionary at the time. Prior to this design, homes were traditional colonial or prairie in style with small windows and doors.

The Usonian house had large windows that allowed the house to seem to be open to nature. The house is made of natural brick, stone, wood with glass curtain walls. The homes had no garage (Wright invented the term carport.) and little storage. The homes were designed to be L-shaped around an interior courtyard. The homes could be changed to fit on odd sized lots. Since the design was flexible, the cost of the homes would be relatively small because cheaper land could be purchased.

For Frank Lloyd Wright, the term Usonian was to be a new term for American. He felt that the word American didn't specify the United States of America. It has been suggested that he developed this term after hearing it suggested that the USA should be called the United States of North America (USONA). He wanted a new term to go with the type of city that he developed for the Usonian lifestyle.

Frank Lloyd Wright's vision led to the modern open floor plan. The Usonian house is credited with starting the American ranch home style.

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