What Frank Lloyd Wright's Own House Tells Us
In 1888 the young Frank Lloyd Wright borrowed $5,000 from his manager, Louis Sullivan, to buy a lot and construct a house for his family at Oak Park, Illinois. As many architects after did, Wright used his house as a laboratory to explore architectural ideas. He enlarged the house in 1895 with a new playroom and kitchen to accommodate his growing family. The second expansion was the inclusion of this studio in 1898. It was there that Wright and his collaborators made some of the most important buildings of the 20th century. And it was there that the adult Prairie School came into its own.
However, Wright abandoned this house for the last time in 1909 in the zenith of his career. With customer Edwin Cheney’s spouse, Mamah, he fled to Europe, abandoning his wife, Catherine, and their kids. Following Wright’s passing, the house and studio had been cut up into flats to offer an income for Catherine and the kids. By the 1960s the property fell into disrepair, eventually being ceded to the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust from the mid-1970s.
Having spent many years restoring the property to its 1909 state, the trust currently conducts tours of their property. A visit to this home and studio is essential for anybody interested in Wright, structure or even the Prairie School.
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
The quality of the exterior of the home is the large and simple gable that floats over the floor. In many ways, Wright’s design for his house resembles a child’s drawing of a house: a very simple geometry with a couple windows and a door.
While Wright would almost assuredly have said the layout had no antecedents, it’s clear that he heard from the shingle-style architects. The similarities between Wright’s house and the Isaac Bell House at Newport, Rhode Island, is spectacular. Open floor plans, large expanses of glass, easy shapes and also a stress on the horizontal are all features of house designs now. In a sense, these were America’s first contemporary homes.
Watch this house decorated for the holidays
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
The original first floor consisted of a living area, a dining area and a kitchen. In the center of this plan is a inglenook with a fireplace and built-in seating. This central mass of fireplace and chimney would become a trademark of Wright’s designs. Here, in the very center of the house, we find the warmth of a fire to bring the family together.
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
Wright and Catherine raised many kids in their Oak Park house. The second-floor playroom, added in 1895, is the where the kids learned to play musical instruments and were invited to put on plays for family and friends.
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
And it’s the playroom that speaks to Wright’s love of family. Sure he had a completely dysfunctional family. However, the homes he designed, starting with his very own, are nothing if not celebrations of family.
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
The original kitchen was converted to a formal dining area at the mid-1890s. In this area, Wright played with establishing a space within a space. The large, rectangular and decorative lighting fixture defines the area’s centre while the high-back seats form a enclosure of sorts.
Wright’s utilization of built-in furniture is apparent too. By the overall space area to all the particulars, for example, furniture and colors, Wright desired to restrain the surroundings. Leaving nothing to chance, he chose to construct in sideboards, storage, seating etc., rather than having furniture added objects to a space (unless, of course, he made the furniture).
Frank Lloyd Wright Trust
Wright built the last addition to this house from the late 1890s. It had been used as his office and studio for the last ten years he lived in Oak Park.
In the center of this photo is the entrance to what Wright called the studio. To the left of this entrance is the two-story studio, as well as the right of this is the presentation room. The gable roof of the house can be seen behind. While this addition is clearly different from the original house — that was, after all, in which a customer would enter and be greeted, so the terminology of “house” had to give way to the terminology of “company” — it shares the same detailing and materials, binding the two together.
A number of the 20th century’s most important buildings were drawn in this studio. From the Robie House to the Larkin Administration Building and so much more, the buildings dreamed of here changed architecture forever.
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