Madison newspaperman Herbert Jacobs, a Wright acquaintance, challenged the architect to design and build a home for $5,000 (equivalent to $88,924 in 2019).
 Wright designed an L-shaped structure with an open floor plan and two bedrooms.
To economize construction costs Wright developed a 2 ¹⁄₄-inch-thick (57 mm) plywood sandwich wall for use on this house.
Rumor maintains that redirected bricks from the Johnson Wax Building ultimately helped keep final construction costs at $5,500.

The Jacobs family moved into the house after construction but quickly outgrew the two-bedroom ranch.
Herbert Jacobs commissioned Wright to build a second home, Jacobs II.
The family moved there in the late 1940s.

Over the following decades the house passed ownership and was exposed to modifications and maintenance techniques of variable historical value.
A multi-year restoration project began in 1983, restoring the house to its 1937 appearance and updating worn and inefficient building systems.

The current owner opens the house for tours through the Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Heritage Tourism Program, Inc.
The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003.
It and seven other properties by Wright were inscribed on the World Heritage List under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" in July 2019.
Madison newspaperman Herbert Jacobs, a Wright acquaintance, challenged the architect to design and build a home for $5,000 (equivalent to $88,924 in 2019).  Wright designed an L-shaped structure with an open floor plan and two bedrooms. To economize construction costs Wright developed a 2 ¹⁄₄-inch-thick (57 mm) plywood sandwich wall for use on this house. Rumor maintains that redirected bricks from the Johnson Wax Building ultimately helped keep final construction costs at $5,500.
The Jacobs family moved into the house after construction but quickly outgrew the two-bedroom ranch. Herbert Jacobs commissioned Wright to build a second home, Jacobs II. The family moved there in the late 1940s.
Over the following decades the house passed ownership and was exposed to modifications and maintenance techniques of variable historical value. A multi-year restoration project began in 1983, restoring the house to its 1937 appearance and updating worn and inefficient building systems.
The current owner opens the house for tours through the Frank Lloyd Wright Wisconsin Heritage Tourism Program, Inc.
The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 2003. It and seven other properties by Wright were inscribed on the World Heritage List under the title "The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" in July 2019.
Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House