BY MARILYN BAUER | ENQUIRER STAFF WRITER

Lancaster, Ohio, is a city rich in history, and a history of design.

Civil War buffs know the town, about three hours northeast of Cincinnati, as the home of Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman.

Fans of design like the innovative creations that came out of the great glassworks at Anchor Hocking, and the grand homes and furnishings dating to the Victorian era.

The two interests merge at the Decorative Arts Center of Ohio. It’s housed in the former residence of Mary Elisabeth Sherman, the general’s oldest sister, and sandwiched between the home where the general was born and where he lived as a family man.

The 1835 Greek Revival home, also known as the Reese-Peters House in honor of former owners, has been renovated to its gaslight splendor. The robin’s egg blue, turquoise and golden rooms have marble fireplaces, original crystal chandeliers, opulent crown moldings and several pieces of the home’s original furniture.

The center holds three exhibitions a year in several rooms on the second floor given over to gallery space. It currently has put together a mini-blockbuster on design wizard Russel Wright (1904-1976), a native of Lebanon, Ohio.

“Living with Good Design” includes his work in glass, plastic, aluminum and wood and includes a re-creation of the 80-acre environment at his former New York home, Manitoga.

“It is a masterpiece of American design,” says Wright historian Robert Schonfeld, “brought into being out of the deep feeling that the family, the home and the native landscape lie at the core of the American experience.”

An American original whose design aesthetic was greatly influenced by time spent in Japan, Wright focused his considerable energy on the integrity of indigenous materials and the ethics of affordable design.

Credited with creating a new American way of living in the mid-20th century, Wright is the creator of “blonde” furniture, stainless-steel flatware, aluminum blinds and plastic dinnerware for the home.

The exhibition provides insight into Wright’s motivations and influences from his formative years in the Midwest and work he did for the U.S. government in Japan.

“The exhibition is arranged chronologically,” says curator

Robert Stearns. “You can see starting in the late ’20s, the beginning of the Depression, that Wright is trying not only to create style, but to change people’s lives. By the time you travel through the

galleries, you have a sense of who this guy is.”