Issue 294 February 23rd 2022

The Headlines

Inside Iconic Houses Tours Roland Reisley's Usonian Home

At the age of 26, Roland Reisley found himself – completely unexpectedly – the client of Frank Lloyd Wright when, having bought a plot with his wife in the newly formed Usonian community of North Westchester, the famous architect offered to design their house. Over 64 years later, he still lives there and still has no plans to move. The Inside Iconic Houses 2018 conference included a visit to his house and they plan to revisit the house and its owner four years later, but now online, which allows them to share this fascinating story with more fans of Frank Lloyd Wright.

Thursday, 24 February 2022- Online House Tour with Live Q&A 09:00 – 10:00 a.m. PDT-LA 12:00 – 01:00 p.m. EDT-NY

After purchasing your ticket in the WEBSHOP you will receive by email a registration link for the event. Registered users will receive a reminder an hour before the start with a link where they can sign up for the online event.

To read an interview with Roland Reisley and see a short preview of the tour of the Reisley House click here.

Uniquely Unity Temple

While there are many unique aspects to Illinois, from its towns to its attractions to its natural beauty, some of its architecture is unlike anywhere else in the country. Located in Oak Park, you’ll find the most remarkable temple in Illinois—or anywhere for that matter. It’s a place that holds so much significance that it is one of only 24 UNESCO World Heritage Sites in the United States. Frank Lloyd Wright's Unity Temple.

The Unity Church congregation first began in 1871 and the following year, a Gothic revival church was built. Augusta Chapin served as pastor from 1886-1891 and was friends with Frank Lloyd Wright's mother.

In 1905, the original church was struck by lightning and burned to the ground. But as luck would have it, famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright came forth with a design for a new church, a design that was completely unique for a house of worship.

Between 1905 and 1908, Wright's design for the new church became a reality. As it stands, the Unity Temple is unlike any other church, not only in Illinois but in the world. It was dedicated to the Unitarian Universalist congregation in 1909.

Unity Temple is such a significant work of architecture that it was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 2019. It is one of only 24 UNESCO sites in the country.

Read the rest of Melissa Mahoney's article and see the beautiful photographs of the Unity Temple here.

How The Bungalow Brought Chicago Together

All over the city, the humble bungalow houses are a remarkably consistent presence. It’s estimated that Chicago boasts 80,000 original bungalows — a third of the city’s single-family housing stock — located across a U-shaped band four to seven miles from the city center called the "Bungalow Belt." In a city riven by inequality and resentment, bungalows are one of the few things that White, Black, and Latino Chicagoans all love together. “The Chicago Bungalow is a unifying thing,” says Chicago historian and native Southsider Shermann “Dilla” Thomas

Featured in Thomas’ indispensable TikTok videos on history and urbanism, Chicago bungalows share several characteristics. Made of brick with Arts-and-Crafts-style detailing (or some with Prairie elements), the standard example is a one or one-and-a-half story home with a low-pitched or hipped roof and dormer windows. Steps ascend from street level to a front porch or sometimes a side entrance; large windows and a prominent front bay face the street. The houses have a rectangular footprint, with long sides to match Chicago’s narrow lot lines. Inside, the front door leads to a large living room, with kitchens and dining rooms tucked toward the back, often across the hall from a bathroom wedged between two bedrooms.

Chicago’s surfeit of bungalows remains because their rise coincided with an explosion of growth. The city’s population doubled in the first three decades of the 20th century, and half of city’s housing stock was built from 1910 to 1930, with bungalow construction tapering off through the Great Depression. Their signature brick was a response to the 1871 Chicago Fire, which tore through timber-frame neighborhoods, as well as a sop to the city’s massive brick industry. Read more about Chicago's bungalow history here.

Artemis Gallery To Offer Cultural Art Collection Of Actor Anthony Quinn

During his long and illustrious acting career, Anthony Quinn performed in some 200 films and received numerous honors for his craft. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice as well as many other prestigious awards. He also had a lifelong passion for art.

While building his admirable collection of cultural art, Quinn also immersed himself in painting and sculpting at his own studio. His considerable talent could be traced back to his youth, when he first learned to sketch and work in plaster. He subsequently won an architectural design competition that led him to briefly to apprentice with Frank Lloyd Wright. It was an experience that would shape the direction of his life forever. Upon Wright's recommendation, Quinn took acting lessons as a form of post-operative speech therapy, which led to a remarkable acting career lasting more than six decades.

Artemis Gallery takes great pleasure in announcing a February 27 online auction consisting exclusively of cultural artworks acquired by screen legend and “Renaissance man” Anthony Quinn (1915-2001). A portion of the auction proceeds will benefit The Anthony Quinn Foundation, which was established by Quinn's wife, Katherine Quinn, to fund arts scholarships for youth and advocate for arts education. More here.

Commission To Consider Schindler's Oliver House As Monument

The Los Angeles Cultural Heritage Commission voted Thursday to consider a hillside Silver Lake house built by Rudolph Schindler for inclusion on the city’s Historic-Cultural Monument List.

The monument application for the “Oliver House” — at 2236 N. Micheltorena St. — was filed by Noel Oliver Osheroff, who grew up in the home and restored the house as an adult. She told commissioners Thursday that her parents moved to Los Angeles in 1920, the same time architect Rudolph Schindler moved to the city to work on the Hollyhock House in Barnsdall Art Park.

Schindler was a prominent Austrian-American architect who worked with Frank Lloyd Wright, who designed the Hollyhock House. Schindler made a name of his own by designing several solo projects, including The Kings Road House, Pueblo Ribera Court, Lovell Beach House, Wolfe House, and How House.

Schindler built the Oliver House in 1933-34 in the Moreno Highlands area of Silver Lake, overlooking the Silver Lake Reservoir. Osheroff said she was 5 years old when the family moved into the home, which she lived in until she was 22. According to the Cultural Heritage Commission’s agenda, the property is owned by the Osheroff Family Trust.

Commissioners enthusiastically voted to take up consideration of the property for the Historic-Cultural Monument List, and many said they were eager to visit the property for a tour themselves. More here.

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