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More about the Home & Studio
More
Sites in Oak Park
Home & Studio
Moore House
Thomas House
Heurtley House
Beachy House
Copeland House
More Sites in Illinois
Aurora
Bannockburn
Barrington
Batavia
Bloomingdale
Chicago
Dwight
Evanston
Geneva
Glencoe
Highland Park
Hinsdale
Kankakee
La Grange
Lake Bluff
Lake Forest
Libertyville
Oak Park
River Forest
Riverside
Springfield
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A hulking, massive and odd structure that seems almost
cobbled together from mismatched pieces, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and
Studio really represents what might be considered a testing ground for
Wright's inventive and imaginative genius that was developed over a period
of some twenty years in his early career. This was the "birthplace" of
the Prairie Style that so delighted Wright's clients and many others as
well.
In 1889, Louis Sullivan, of Sullivan and Adler -- his
employers at the time -- loaned Wright the money to buy a lot and build a
home in Oak Park for himself and his bride to be, Catherine Tobin.
Wright's architectural practice opened here somewhere between 1893 and 1898,
and the rest, as they say, is history.
"Horizontal lines...scattered vases filled with leaves and
wild flowers, massive fireplaces seemed to be everywhere. Here and
there a Yourdes [rug] of rare beauty covered the floor. A Persian
lantern, samovars, windows which met and turned corners, lights filtering
through fret-sawn ceiling grilles, sunshine and shadows...these made the
house that was our home." John Lloyd Wright
Geometry was always one of the strongest principles in
Wright's architectural career and in his Home and Studio, applications and
examples of it are abundant, more so than can be adequately described here.
The integration of intricate design details, centrally-located fireplaces,
geometry, roofs of long overhang, along with landscape that complimented the
design of the structure -- and vice versa -- which began here in Oak Park,
became hallmarks of Wright designs; in this home and studio he designed
approximately 125 buildings in only eleven years.
Construction & Unique Features
- Original home built in 1889; playroom addition in 1895;
studio addition in 1898 and garage addition in 1911
- Master bedroom and playroom murals painted by Orlando
Giannini
- Sculptures (The Boulder and stork columns) by Richard Bock
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