On the western side of Worthington, backing onto the Olentangy River floodplain, Rush Creek Village is a mid-century residential development built on Usonian principles — the approach to modest organic housing developed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The neighbourhood was constructed between 1956 and 1960 by Columbus architects who had studied Wright's ideas and applied them to a speculative development of around 100 homes.
The houses are recognisable: low to the ground, with broad overhanging rooflines, carports rather than garages, natural brick and wood exteriors, and interior plans that flow together rather than dividing into formal rooms. They are all private residences, so you view them from the street, but the neighbourhood is compact enough that a 30-minute walk covers most of it. Rush Creek Road and the surrounding streets give the best views. The contrast with the Federal-period historic district at the other end of town — two hundred years of American residential architecture compressed into a few square miles — is part of what makes Worthington an interesting architectural stop.