Oak Park
Early Sunday morning I caught the Red Line subway to downtown, and then walked up to the elevated tracks of the Green Line, which would take me west to Oak Park. Along with returning late from the party, this was the second time during my stay in Chicago that the L was not completely packed.
Oak Park began as a small farmstead in 1835, which also functioned as a tavern between the small town of Chicago and the Desplaines River. After the Chicago Fire in 1871, the village of Oak Park quickly expanded as people relocated to the suburbs. A number of famous people have called it home, including Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ernest Hemingway, Ray Kroc, Bob Newhart, and of course, Frank Lloyd Wright. Oak Park is a quaint little community, and a welcome reprieve from the noise and chaos of Chicago, especially early on a Sunday morning. As I walked from the station to the Frank Lloyd Wright home and studio, I passed under large trees (many of them, shockingly, oak trees) and beside lush green lawns in front of well-maintained houses. Birds were chirping, squirrels were frolicking… it was lovely.
But anyway. I arrived at the Ginkgo Tree Bookshop (in the former garage of Wright’s home), around 9:45 am, and waited for them to open at 10:00 am. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust offers tours of Wright’s home, the Oak Park neighborhood, and the Robie House (which is south of downtown Chicago). I had originally planned to take the first guided tour of the neighborhood at 11:00 am, but I didn’t want to wait another hour. They also offer audio tours, starting at 10:30 am, but audio tours just don’t do much for me. So instead, I elected to buy a map they offered which points out houses by Frank Lloyd Wright and other notable architects. Then I set out on my own.
Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
In 1889, at the age of twenty-two, Frank Lloyd Wright designed this home in Oak Park, and borrowed money from his employer Louis Sullivan to build it. As his family grew (he had six children with his first wife Catherine), Wright added on, starting with a new dining room and a playroom. In 1898 he added an architectural studio next to the house. In 1909, Wright left Oak Park to travel Europe. In 1911 he built his second home and studio in Wisconsin, and remodeled the Oak Park studio as living space for his first wife and children, and the house as six apartments. In 1925 he sold the property. In the 1970’s and 1980’s, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation restored the house to its 1909 state.
Christopher McHugh House
Wright originally purchased the corner lot on the other side of Forest Avenue in 1888. However, he sold it back to Edwin O. Gale a year later and built his house across the street. The property was then purchased by Christopher McHugh in 1890. His large Victorian house was later extensively remodeled into a pseudo-Prairie Style house by removing the turret and porches, and covering the exterior in stucco.
Robert P. Parker House
In 1892, while still working for Adler and Sullivan, Wright began taking residential commissions on the side, which he was not supposed to do. This eventually cost him his job, but in the meantime it was extra income, and a chance to design on his own. These homes are known as the Bootleg Houses, and represent a transitional phase before Wright fully abandoned historical styles. Two of the homes are very similar, and were designed for realtor Thomas H. Gale, who sold one to attorney Robert P. Parker.
Walter H. Gale House
The first completed commission after Wright left Adler and Sullivan in 1893 was this home for druggist Walter H. Gale.
Nathan G. Moore House
In 1894, lawyer Nathan G. Moore hired Wright to design a new house for his family. He minced no words in letting the architect know, however, that he wanted a traditional house in the Tudor style. Wright needed the commission to support his growing family, and for once conceded. In his later autobiography, Wright said:
Could I give him a house in the name of English half-timber good enough that I would not sell out? It was worth trying anyway. I tried it… They were delighted with the house, and so was everyone but me. … At any rate it was the one time in the course of a long career that I gave into the fact that I had a family and they had a right to live – and their living was up to me.
On Christmas Day 1922, a fire destroyed the second and third floors of the Moore home. Nathan Moore hired Wright to rebuild it, even though reportedly the cost nearly bankrupted him. This time Wright was able to make some significant modifications, and the house as it stands today has less of the original Tudor stylings and more references to Wright’s contemporary work in California and the Imperial Hotel in Japan.
While I was photographing the house, some vintage cars pulled up. I suppose they were part of an auto club out for a Sunday drive. In any event, they seemed appropriate.
Arthur B. Heurtley House
Considered by some to be the finest Prairie School home, the Arthur B. Heurtley House was built in 1902. The Prairie style emphasized horizontal lines, as can clearly be seen here. Distinctive features of the style featured in the Heurtley house include the low, wide chimney, low-pitched hip roof with large overhanging eaves, no vertical downspouts from the gutters, and an almost continuous band of art glass windows which makes the roof appear to float over the house. The brick courses alternate between slightly recessed and slightly pronounced, and while the horizontal mortar rows are white, the vertical mortar joints between bricks are brick-colored so that from a distance they disappear.
Peter A. Beachy House
Wright was commissioned, possibly by Dr. Peter Fahrney, to remodel an existing Gothic cottage on this site for his newlywed daughter and her banker husband Peter Beachy. As with many of Wright’s “remodeling” projects, little if any of the original house remains beyond some of the foundations. This was the last of Wright’s Prairie houses with a gable rather than hip roof. Other peculiarities include the absence of art glass, the front picture window, and the use of all four of Wright’s standard exterior materials: stucco, wood, brick, and concrete.
Frank W. Thomas House
The first Prairie style house that Wright designed in Oak Park was the Frank W. Thomas House in 1901, during his brief partnership with Webster Tomlinson. In the 1930’s, the Thomas family applied for a permit to cover the exterior with wood shingles, probably due to the high maintenance cost of the original stucco. In the 1970’s the stucco was restored. The “No Tower” sign in the window is a protest against a proposed condominium tower in Oak Park.
Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House
Simpson Dunlop House
Architect E.E. Roberts grew up in Boston before moving to Chicago in 1889. He worked for S.S. Berman in Chicago until starting his own practice in Oak Park in 1893. One of his first large residential commissions was the Simpson Dunlop residence, built in 1897. Although essentially Queen Anne style, the house is somewhat simpler in form and decoration, a signature that Roberts would develop throughout his practice there. While Roberts never fully embraced the Prairie School (he designed buildings in many different styles, from Classic Revival to Early Modern), his rectilinear emphasis had similarities to the work of Wright and others.
Gordon Ripley House
lunch
When lunchtime rolled around, I’d seen most of the neighborhood, so it was time for some food. I stopped by the Marion Street Grille, a French bistro, but they weren’t open for lunch on Sundays, so I walked back through downtown Oak Park to Geppetto’s, a nice little Italian place. I ordered pasta formaggi, and watched people walk by outside.
After some time, I became aware that a small boy sitting nearby with his family was singing something. Coming out of my daydreams, it took me a while to ascertain that he was singing “I wear underwear, I wear underwear…” Well, I was delighted, and perhaps relieved, to know this.
Kevin's Party