Issue Feb 14th 2024  February 14th 2024

A 12-Stop Road Trip Of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Most Surprising Designs

It’s been more than 60 years since Frank Lloyd Wright’s career came to an end following his death in 1959, and there are nearly 300 structures designed by the prolific American architect still standing, the bulk of which are sprinkled across the United States.

Many of these homes and buildings are iconic, known for their creative use of space and natural materials, a Wright trademark. But the architect’s genius also springs up in unexpected places, like the gas station in Minnesota that includes an observation deck, or a Greek Orthodox church that looks like a spaceship.

Atlas Obscura features 12 stops on a Frank Lloyd Wright superfan’s cross-country road trip of the U.S. This list includes such diverse architectural designs as Blue Sky Mausoleum in Buffalo, New York, to the Frank Lloyd Wright Gas Station in Cloquet, Minnesota, and the Samuel Freeman House in Los Angeles.

Click for more details: atlasobscura.com  

Oak Park Woman Shares Journey In Wright's Balch House

A 2016 visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Oscar B. Balch House in Oak Park, IL was more of an art museum trip for Samantha Lotti than an appointment with a real estate agent to buy it.

Lotti studied Wright’s work in college art history classes and admired the organic Prairie style that broke the constricts of Victorian gingerbreads and other European styles that dominated architecture in the early 1900s.

But, she told Patch, “I didn’t think I would want one, or be interested.”

“Three steps in, and I fell in love with this house,” she said. “My heart was totally in love. So I decided to buy it.”

Lotti bought the house for $1,126,800, about 10 percent below the asking price, and she thanks herself every day for acting on a gut feeling the home was meant to be hers.

“I wake up every morning and look around and go, ‘Wow, I’m still here,’” said Lotti, 39, a certified acupuncturist and herbalist who practices traditional Chinese medicine at Biodynamic Health Systems in Oak Park, where she is the sole practitioner.

“It is just stunningly beautiful,” she said. “If you love art, I think it’d be hard not to love living in a Frank Lloyd Wright home.”

There are about 400 Wright-designed homes still standing, about 100 of them in Illinois, where the architect worked first for a Chicago firm, and later from his home and design studio in Oak Park. There are about two dozen Wright homes within the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District.

“The prairie has a beauty of its own and we should recognize and accentuate this natural beauty, its quiet level,” he once wrote.

Lotti loves the bold, geometric lines of the Oscar B. Balch House. Wright was a master of illusion who used variations in color, ceiling heights and hallway widths to make spaces seem larger or smaller.

One such trick of the eye in her home is a screen strategically placed between the hallway and the living room.

“You can see through, but not clearly,” she said. “He knew how to play with space and light in a way lots of architects do not. It’s like living in a work of art. It’s really a magnificent layout.”

The home was in excellent condition when Lotti bought it in 2016. The previous owner meticulously restored much of the original structure and added an expansive kitchen and great room to the back, preserving the street view and symmetrical front elevation. Such modifications are allowed as long as they are made to the rear of the house that can’t be seen from the street and are consistent with the design of the main house.

Despite those restrictions, the only parts of the house that are technically protected are two Wright-designed glass light fixtures, which were deeded to the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic Trust by the previous owner.

“Those can’t be touched or modified at all,” Lotti said. “But the rest of the house, I could gut and make more modern.”

But why would she? An environmentalist, her goal with an ambitious renovation project was to make the masterpiece green.

With solar panels, “I’m almost there,” Lotti said. “The engineer I’m working with said I’ll get close to being able to pay all the electrical bills with the solar panels, but not 100 percent.”

But installing solar panels isn’t “as easy as it sounds,” especially on a Frank Lloyd Wright house with outside aesthetics to consider. And before that work could be done, Lotti needed to fix the roof, which leaked and lacked sufficient insulation.

Lotti doesn’t regret the decision seven years ago to buy the house, or the “fortune” she has put into it.

“It’s been very gratifying, albeit difficult,” she said. “It’s well worth it because you know the house is going to live for another 100 years,

“I don’t consider myself an owner,” she said. “I consider myself a custodian … to make sure it’s available in perpetuity.”

Click for more details: patch.com  

Park District Of Oak Park Announces Design Competition for Field Center Remodel

The Park District of Oak Park, IL announced a design competition to renovate the Field Recreation Center. The winning team will be awarded a $1.8 million contract to complete the construction. A jury of architects, designers and building experts will select the winner.

The existing building was the result of a design competition for a “Playground Structure” put on in 1926. The competition was entered by Frank Lloyd Wright, but won by John Van Bergen, whose designs were eventually built at Fox Park, Stevenson Park, Andersen Park and Carroll Park. Four of the original buildings remain, although they were modified in 1966 by Jack Barclay including covering the original cream brick with dark brown which substantially changed the look and feel of the original buildings.

The current building, a one classroom building with support spaces, is used primarily for daycare and afterschool care. The building was slated for decommissioning in PDOP’s last 10-year master plan, but the demand for childcare has created the need to expand the Center. Follow the link to learn more.

Click for more details: pdop.org  

Wright Plus Housewalk Returns in 2024

The Wright Plus Housewalk returns to Oak Park, IL Saturday, May 18. The house walk will feature eight Oak Park private homes, as well as Wright’s Home and Studio. Walk co-chairs Joan Pantsios and Debbie Crouch praise the local homeowners who are sharing their architecturally significant homes for Wright Plus, and said this year’s homes are an exciting glimpse into Oak Park’s rich architectural history.

Now in its 50th year, Wright Plus is a perennial favorite among local house walks and draws an international audience. Proceeds of the walk support the restoration, preservation and education programs of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

This year’s walk includes three Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes. The William G. Fricke home joined the line-up. Commissioned in 1901, the house showcases Wright’s Prairie Style.

Wright’s Harry S. Adams House, designed in 1913, and the Emma and Peter A. Beachy House, designed in 1906, also are on the walk.

“Even though some of the people on our tour have seen them before, it’s always fun to see them again,” Pantsios said.

She noted that when the Beachy House recently underwent a roof restoration project, the owners found a box of original roof tiles and were pleased to discover just how much their restoration resembled the original roof.

The Adams House is Wright’s last Oak Park design, and Pantsios said it “has a lovely flow to it.”

Three E.E. Roberts homes are on the walk, as well. The Simpson Dunlop House and Joseph K. Dunlop were designed in 1896 and 1897 for brothers who were the grandsons of Oak Park founder Joseph Kettlestrings.

Both homes have been featured on Wright Plus in the past, although Pantsios pointed out that the Simpson Dunlop house has not been featured since 1985, so it will be new to most people.

“It’s interesting to see how they were different originally, and what subsequent owners have done to the homes interior-wise,” she said.

Roberts’ other design on the walk is the E.W. Pratt House, designed in 1909. Crouch called the interiors of the home, “very charming and beautiful.”

Pantsios noted that later owners matched the original windows when re-working the front door. The house was moved to its current location in 1920 from its original lot on Oak Park Avenue. This is the home’s first appearance on Wright Plus.

The Ashley C. Smith House was designed by Tallmadge and Watson in 1908. The home boasts stunning, original leaded glass windows, and the fence replicates the pattern in the windows. Pantsios pointed out an interesting fact: The original sofas from the Beachy House now live in the Smith House, after an owner found the Beachy originals at a consignment store.

The Clyde and Elizabeth Shorey House is also new to Wright Plus. Designed in 1922 by architect Max Dunning, the home is one of two Dunning designs in Oak Park. Pantsios said the architect is not as well known in Oak Park, and expects that the trust researcher will have a lot of interesting information on the home.

Tickets for Wright Plus 2024 are available at: https://flwright.org/wright-plus. Tickets are $125 for the general public and $90 for trust members. At press time, several other ticket options remain available. The Fast Pass ticket allows participants to skip the line and costs $600 or $565 for trust members.

Ultimate Saturday tickets are $1,375 or $1,225 for trust members and include Fast Pass access to the homes, lunch the day of the walk at the Nineteenth Century Club and an exclusively Wright dinner on May 18 at the Avery Coonley House in Riverside, catered by chef Melissa Elsmo.

The Ultimate Plus Weekend package includes the perks of the Ultimate Saturday tickets along with a Friday excursion, Private Passage-Wright’s Glencoe, accommodations at the Carleton Hotel and transportation to and from all events. Ultimate Plus Weekend packages cost $2,675 or $2,525 for trust members.

Click for more details: oakpark.com