Laurent House (1949)
Born Feb. 19, 1919, in McHenry County, Illinois to John P. and Elsie (Olsen) Laurent, Kenneth H. Laurent is a study in perseverance. After graduating from Belvedere High School, he moved to Rockford, Illinois in 1937 where he worked as a statistician for National Lock Corporation for forty-one years (his father also worked there, as […]
Frank Smith Bank Building
The Frank Smith Bank Building is one of two banks that were designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Now known as the Peoples National Bank of Dwight, the building is unassuming from the outside and tucked into the middle of the block across the street from the Amtrak station. This page may contain affiliate links. See […]
Dana-Thomas House (1902)
The Dana-Thomas House is an incredibly well-preserved and exquisite example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture. Located on the corner of 4th and Lawrence Streets, the house is just blocks from the capitol and minutes from downtown — easily within walking distance of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library & Museum in good weather. The home itself […]
Emil Bach House (1915)
The Emil Bach House is a Prairie style house in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States that was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was built in 1915 for an admirer of Wright’s work, Emil Bach, the co-owner of the Bach Brick Company. The Bach House is one of the […]
Robie House (1909)
Of the approximately 500 structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, about 400 of them were actually built. Of that number, the state of Illinois contains more than any other state in the Union. And the majority of those buildings are located in either Chicago or Oak Park, with a number of others in the northern […]
Fabyan Villa
It is incredibly easy to drive either in to or out of Geneva along Route 31 without ever really noticing the stately but aging and decaying flagstone wall that runs for several hundred yards along the east side of the road just south of town, let alone take a moment or two to ponder what […]
Unity Temple (1906)
Photo Credit: “Unity Temple” by Teemu008 is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0. During the very late 1800s, Frank Lloyd Wright became increasingly innovative in terms of his architectural style; this period was the beginning of what came to be known as Wright’s Prairie style. Inspired by the low and mostly flat landscape of the Midwest, the Prairie style home, […]
Pettit Memorial Chapel (1906)
On a recent trek to Rockford, Illinois to tour the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home of Kenneth and Phyllis Laurent, we took a short detour in order to stop at the Belvidere Cemetery. Since 1847 the cemetery has served Belvidere and the surrounding area; there are former U.S. Congressmen, Civil War Generals and sports stars buried […]
The Rookery (1905)
Originally constructed in 1888, the Rookery Office Building is the oldest remaining high-rise in Chicago and was built by Daniel H. Burnham & J. W. Root. It’s name probably came from the previous building on this site which was an old city hall and was a favorite roosting spot of pigeons. The lobby was remodeled […]
Bradley House (1900)
The world is filled with ironies; one of the strangest being a little known fact that I ran across this morning while researching this story: when former Illinois Governor George Ryan placed a moratorium on executions and commuted all death sentences to life terms in January of 2003 for those who had committed heinous crimes, […]