The next stop on the tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie School of Architecture Historic District, located in and around the northeastern Illinois suburbs of Chicago, finds two more prairie-inspired buildings.
The Robie House
The first is the Frederick C. Robie House, which was built in 1908 in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. Largely considered one of Wright's masterpieces, the Robie House boasts simple, horizontal lines that sweep across the property, rows of art glass that wrap around it, and large, overhanging roofs that make it a distinctive Frank Lloyd Wright design. Inside, all the classic prairie features are found: an open floor plan, central fireplace, etc.
The Robie family lived in the house for less than two years before moving out and other tenants moved in. By the 1930s the building was sold to a seminary and survived threats of demolition in the late '50s to become the historic property it is today.
As seen in 1963; Library of Congress, Prints and Photograph Division, Historic American Building Survey: HABS ILL,16-CHIG,33-2
Photo taken Aug. 6, 2006; Image courtesy Flickr and mach3
Great view of the famed art glass and the large roof overhang; Photo taken July 19, 2012; Image courtesy Flickr and westher
Look familiar? The interior is similar to the interior of the Frank Lloyd Wright room at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from a previous post.
Image courtesy Flickr and colros
The Gale House
The second house is the Laura Gale House, wife of a prominent realtor of the time. In 1909, Mrs. Gale commissioned Wright to design and build this now historic residence, which remains today one of Wright's most unusual designs, but Prairie at heart. With the use of these bold, geometrical shapes, Wright may have started the trend that spread to European design and Wright's own later works.
View from the street of the Prairie School Historic District; Photo taken July 19, 2012; Image courtesy Flickr and westher
A clash of organic and geometric forms; Image courtesy Flickr and singular kind of moment
View of Elizabeth Court in Oak Park, IL and the Gale House's place in the district
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