Issue May 15th 2024 May 15th 2024

The Headlines

Wright Plus Returns May 18

Wright Plus returns to Oak Park, Illinois Saturday, May 18th. The housewalk opens eight Oak Park private homes, as well as Wright’s Home and Studio, to a sold-out crowd.

Celebrating its 50th year in the community, Wright Plus is a long-time draw for international visitors, as well as local architecture buffs. Proceeds of the walk support the restoration, preservation and education programs of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

Walk co-chairs Joan Pantsios and Debbie Crouch said that over 1,000 visitors are expected to take part in the walk. This year’s walk includes three Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes.

The William G. Fricke home was commissioned in 1901. The stucco house showcases Wright’s Prairie Style with its horizontal banding and overhanging roof eaves. The house was designed during Wright’s short partnership with architect Webster Tomlinson. William Fricke was a partner in a school supply firm.

Wright’s Harry S. Adams House, designed in 1913, is Wright’s last Oak Park design. The brick Prairie Style home features a low-hipped roof and a broad, central chimney. It is the only Wright design in Oak Park to include a carport.

The Emma and Peter A. Beachy House, was a renovation of a Gothic cottage in 1906. Wright’s remodeling saved little more than the original home’s foundation. The house features gabled roofs and red brick on the first story, with stucco on the second.

Three E.E. Roberts homes are on the walk this year.

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 previously, but the Simpson Dunlop house has not been featured since 1985.

“They homes were built one year apart. It will be really interesting to compare the two the day of the walk,” Pantsios saiThe E.W. Pratt House, designed in 1909 by Roberts is on Wright Plus for the first time. Crouch says the house was moved from its original location on Oak Park Avenue.

“It’s pretty impressive they would move a whole house, but the idea then was that you didn’t spend a lot of money building a new house when you could just move one.”

The Ashley C. Smith House was designed by Tallmadge and Watson in 1908. The stucco home boasts stunning, original leaded glass windows. Visitors to the house will see radiator covers and a bookcase designed by the homeowner. Rumor has it that the Smith House is haunted, so visitors can keep an eye out for ghosts, as well.

The Clyde and Elizabeth Shorey House is also new to Wright Plus. Designed in 1922 by architect N. Max Dunning, the Tudor Revival Style home is one of two Dunning designs in Oak Park. Pantsios says that research revealed interesting facts about Dunning’s life. Dunning was with architect Louis Sullivan when he died. Both were members of a group of arts supporters known as the Cliff Dwellers Club. Dunning notified Frank Lloyd Wright about Sullivan’s death.

Pantsios and Crouch said that Wright Plus would not be possible without the help of almost 350 volunteers.

“What really sets this walk apart is how well-trained the volunteers are and the research they do. I don’t know of any other walk with this level of research into the history of the homes and owners and the architecture,” Pantsios said.

Wright Plus 2024 is sold out, but this year’s co-chairs said it’s a good time to pencil in the dates for Wright Plus 2025. Wright Plus is typically held the third weekend in May.

Hillside Theater At Taliesin To Reopen In June Following Restoration

The Hillside Theater at Taliesin in Spring Green, Wisconsin will reopen in June after an extensive renovation.

Grammy award-winning percussion quartet Third Coast Percussion will commemorate the reopening with the theater’s first performance in four years, according to spokesperson Rachel Eroh.

The performance will take place on Frank Lloyd Wright’s 157th birthday on June 8.

The event is being hosted by the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation and Taliesin Preservation.

The ceremony will include a restoration overview and a public viewing with refreshments in the Hillside Dining Room. The evening will conclude with a dinner in the Hillside Drafting Studio.

Completed in 1932, the historic theater once hosted regular performances for Wright and his Taliesin Fellowship and became a destination for those who shared an appreciation for the arts, according to Eroh.

After receiving funding from The National Park Service, the Hillside Theater Restoration Project was announced in 2018 to revive the space to its former glory.

Reopening ceremony is free, at 3 – 4:45 p.m. Saturday, June 8, Hillside Theater: 6604 Hwy 23 Trunk, Spring Green, Wisconsin 53588.

Third Coast Percussion performance: 6 – 7:30 p.m. (doors open at 5:30 p.m.), tickets cost $100

Dinner celebration at 7:30 p.m., Dinner Celebration Package: $250 (includes reopening, performance and dinner)

Livestream: $15 per household

RSVPs are required; contact rsvp@franklloydwright.org for reservations

Preserving B. Harley Bradley House History With Pictorial Book

One of the gems of the city of Kankakee, Illinois (and Kankakee County as a whole) is the B. Harley Bradley House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Situated in the Riverview Historic District of Kankakee, the structure was Wright’s first-ever Prairie-style home.

After a storied past, the home now is under the care of Wright In Kankakee, a nonprofit dedicated to preserving the building and its history.

Also helping preserve its history is Kankakee resident Laura Golowski, who penned the book The B. Harley Bradley House – Frank Lloyd Wright’s Flagship Prairie Design. A retired Bradley-Bourbonnais Community High School teacher, Golowski has been a volunteer with Wright In Kankakee for 14 years.

Her inspiration for writing this book was to create a pictorial and historical book about the Bradley House (as none existed solely about the Bradley House). This house was designed in 1900 by Frank Lloyd Wright, perhaps one of the most well-known architects in the world, for the family of B. Harley Bradley, in Kankakee.

Harley was the grandson of David Bradley, inventor and manufacturer of farm implements and plows, who moved his Chicago-based plant to this area in 1895. Bradley is named for this family, for bringing industry and jobs to the area. Laura gathered piecemeal information, recorded the history that was known and investigated and discovered new information that was added to the history of the Bradley House.

Also inspiring were the Halls, Gaines and Sharon, who restored the Bradley House from 2005-10. The idea of the Bradley House speaking and telling its own story came from Gaines Hall. Golowski wanted to pay tribute to the Halls for their meticulous and total restoration of, and for saving, the B. Harley Bradley House.

The B. Harley Bradley House: Frank Lloyd Wright’s Flagship Prairie Design book can be purchased in the gift shop at the B. Harley Bradley House or online here.

Author Explores Frank Lloyd Wright’s "Buterfly Wood"

Architect Robert Ooley will be at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art (SBMA) in California for a presentation and signing of his book “The Butterfly Wood,” 2 p.m. Sunday, May 19, in the museum’s Craig Auditorium, 1130 State St.

Ooley has been an architect for the private and public sector on the Central Coast for some 25 years. He is an author, playwright, and the director of facilities for SBMA.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Butterfly Wood house opens the door into one of the architect’s last commissions of his Prairie Style, and is the only example of that time in his career on the West Coast.

The 4,500-square-foot redwood treasure is in Montecito at the corner of Hot Springs and Summit roads. Ooley’s story weaves together the family that wanted a coastal retreat, a world-renowned embattled architect, and the house they made together.

To reserve a spot, visit tickets.sbma.net.

Wayfarers Chapel Will Be Dismantled Starting This Week

Faced with imminent destruction, historic Wayfarers Chapel will be deconstructed beginning this week as the land continues to move at a pace not seen in decades in areas of Rancho Palos Verdes, California and on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.

It was 73 years to the day, said Wayfarers Executive Director Dan Burchett at a May 13 press conference, that the glass and redwood place of worship and city icon opened on Mother’s Day.

“The accelerating destruction of Wayfarers Chapel, caused by the Portuguese Bend Landslide Complex is a looming tragedy that is felt by many,” said Burchett at the press conference, adding that their hearts go out to nearby neighbors whose homes are also in danger.

Their commitment, Burchett said, is to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright Jr.-designed church “exactly as it has always been.”

“We have never varied from that commitment in any way,” Burchett said.

But because of the unprecedented land movement, the priority now is to dismantle the chapel, which has been a wedding destination and filming site for decades because of its unique architecture and views of the Pacific Ocean.

Burchett said the first choice is to rebuild at the site.

“We have never wanted to move off of this site,” Burchett said.

But the land movement makes that impossible, he said, and they are looking for a similar site in the area.

“We feel very committed to the community,” Burchett said.

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