Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio complex is located in Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The house and studio occupy a plot measuring , bounded by Chicago Avenue to the north and Forest Avenue to the west. The house carries the address of 428 Forest Avenue, while the studio is located at 951 Chicago Avenue. Despite the relatively large size of the lot, the house is placed near the southern end, away from Chicago Avenue. The property also contained a black willow and may have also included butternut, walnut, sugar maple, and honey locust trees, in addition to forsythia bushes. The building is surrounded by a low garden wall, which was designed to blend in with the surrounding trees. which is located at 931 Chicago Avenue. == Residential and studio use ==

Wright use Development Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Center, Wisconsin, in 1867 and moved to Illinois in 1887 to pursue an architectural career. Wright first worked for Joseph Lyman Silsbee before joining the Chicago–based architectural firm of Adler & Sullivan in early 1888. Soon after, he moved to Oak Park (then part of the town of Cicero) in Chicago's suburbs. Wright initially lived alone before his mother Anna and two sisters joined him. With his mother's assistance, Wright obtained a house and barn at the southeast corner of Chicago and Forest avenues in Oak Park. and the site overlooked a prairie to the north. Wright's mother moved to an adjacent house on Chicago Avenue. who took title to the land. Excluding the land cost, Wright eventually spent $5,300, which included $1,200 from his own savings and $3,500 from Sullivan's loan. Wright designed the house without regard to what anyone else thought; for example, he carved adages into the walls despite his wife's opposition. As built, the house was little more than a cottage, with five rooms on the first floor (including an entry hall) and three rooms on the second floor. The original design included a large gable roof inspired by two of Bruce Price's cottages in Tuxedo Park, New York. Initial modifications Wright began modifying the house almost immediately after its completion, when he replaced the windows. Six of his children were born in the Oak Park house: Frank Jr. (better known as Lloyd; 1890), John (1892), Catherine (1894), David (1895), Frances (1898), and Robert (1903). Kitty bemoaned the fact that her husband focused more on the house's design than on his own family, and Wright himself reflected that he did not feel like a father figure to his children. They hosted extravagant dinner parties and musical performances, When Sullivan learned of Wright's secondary jobs, Wright was either fired or quit. Sullivan's partner Dankmar Adler transferred ownership of the Oak Park house to Wright, In addition, a kitchen was added at the rear. A playroom was also built on the second floor, Though the playroom was ostensibly built for the children, the historian Brendan Gill writes that the space probably would have been constructed in some other fashion even if the Wrights had had no children. he drew up plans for an architectural studio at his own house. He did not have money to build the studio until the Luxfer Prism Company hired him to design a building. The building served as an advertisement for Wright's architectural practice, and he frequently showed the interiors to potential clients. Wright's firm designed Prairie style buildings en masse after the studio's completion, though sources disagree on how many buildings they designed. Their designs included the Dana-Thomas House, Darwin D. Martin House, Coonley House, Willits House, Laura Gale House, Thomas H. Gale House, Robie House, Unity Temple, and Larkin Building. These associates included Richard Bock, Barry Byrne, William Eugene Drummond, Walter Burley Griffin, Marion Mahony Griffin, George Mann Niedecken, Isabel Roberts, John S. Van Bergen, and Charles E. White Jr. Generally, many of Wright's associates stayed only a few years before founding their own firms. Even after the studio structure was completed, Wright continued to tinker with his design. His assistants quipped that he made modifications to the house even when his other projects were behind schedule. In 1905, Wright added a low wall in front of the studio wing's entrance loggia. The rear wall of the studio's reception hall was remodeled, and skylights were added to the studio rooms' ceilings. More clerestory windows were added to the studio's drafting room and library during that time. In addition, Wright added ledges below the drafting room's balcony, and the studio was redecorated with branches and grasses collected by Wright's associates. By 1908, Wright had become disillusioned with the Oak Park studio, and his associates recalled that he was spending less and less time in the studio. Wright traveled to Europe in 1909 to work on his Wasmuth Portfolio, and he ran off with Mamah Borthwick, a client's wife. John Van Bergen and Isabel Roberts finished up his works-in-progress and then closed the Oak Park studio. This marked the end of what was known as his "Oak Park era". A news article that Christmas reported that Wright "did not feel any regret he was not present in the Oak Park house where his lawful wife and their six children were spending their Christmas". To augment his family's income, in 1911, he created a second residence within the studio, The house section's main entrance was relocated, and its living room was expanded north. Wright built a walled garden west of the studio, creating a private space for that residence. To the south and east of the building, he added two driveways, a two-car garage, and a one-car garage. With the growing popularity of automobiles, Wright installed gasoline pumps in the garages. After the modifications were completed, Kitty and her children moved into the studio. Wright borrowed $20,000 from the businessman Darwin D. Martin, for whom he had designed a house in Buffalo, New York. Alfred MacArthur, one of Wright's tenants agreed in 1915 to pay $15,000 for the structure on Forest Avenue. The employees who lived there included Alfonso Iannelli, who lived there in 1914 while designing sculptures for the Midway Gardens, and Rudolph Schindler, who lived there in 1919 while designing Los Angeles's Hollyhock House and other buildings. Schindler recalled that the old studio was very leaky and unsuccessfully tried to upgrade the heating. Relocation of the Wright family Kitty and her youngest son moved out of the studio in 1918, after the remaining Wright children had already moved away. MacArthur moved out in 1920 because Wright had raised the monthly rent to $170, far above the market rate for the area. At some point between 1918 and 1925, the four bedrooms above the studio were converted into a living room. Wright's brother-in-law Andrew Porter, who lived in Anna Wright's house next door, drew plans for an expansion of the Wright house at the request of his wife, Frank's sister Jane. By 1922, local artists had rented space in two of the complex's apartments, while Wright's family lived in the third apartment; The Austin–Oak Park–River Forest Art League moved into the studio section of the complex in 1924. Bastear and Thomas are recorded as having paid $28,250 for the building, with a loan from Martin, The new owners were to pay Martin $250 a month through 1930, collecting rent revenue from the building. The Austin–Oak Park–River Forest Art League then expanded its space there. Nooker ownership Clyde and Charlotte Nooker bought the building in 1946. During the mid-20th century, the building was divided into six apartments: three on the first floor, two on the second floor, and one above the two-car garage. To allow visitors to see the drafting room and the original house, the Nookers relocated to the apartment at the rear of the first floor. Because of the various modifications over the years, the tours were conducted in two parts, and relatively few of the original decorations remained. By the early 1970s, fourteen of the house's 25 rooms were open to the public five days a week between April and December. The two second-floor apartments were occupied by multiple women who shared a bathroom, a kitchen (within the master bedroom), and a dining room (within the playroom). Charlotte placed the house for sale in 1972 when her husband died. Dawn Goshorn, who later became president of the Wright Home and Studio Foundation, led efforts to acquire the building. Goshorn asked several local banks for loans; they agreed to provide up to $150,000 to buy the building, Charlotte eventually reduced her asking price to $168,000. == Museum use ==

1970s sales The Oak Park Development Corporation bought the house and studio in July 1974; The purchase price was financed by a loan from Avenue State Bank, The corporation handed over operations to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation, which had been organized that June to care for the building. charging an admission fee to raise funds for preservation. Lloyd regarded the building's sale as part of a "stupid" trend of selling off land for profit, though he expressed optimism about the complex's preservation. The trust hired dozens of "interpreters" or tour guides; within seven weeks, they had given tours to 1,600 visitors. though local residents worried that this would increase noise pollution and congestion. The village's planning commission recommended that December that the special permit be granted. The foundation also asked the National Trust for Historic Preservation to buy the building and lease it back for a nominal fee. Although the trust usually distributed small grants, it made an exemption for the museum because of the urgency involved. The village approved a special permit that February, under the condition that the foundation buy the house back if the trust were to dissolve. The Home and Studio Foundation also requested $15,000 in federal community development funds for the building's purchase, The United States Department of Housing and Urban Development provided $22,500 in community development funds, including money diverted from other projects. With this money, the foundation was able to hire an executive director. The Home and Studio Foundation raised funds from a variety of sources, from formal fundraising benefits to small-dollar donations. Funds came from individual donations, organizations, and various governments; The donors included the actress Anne Baxter, one of Wright's grandchildren. or 1975. After sufficient funding had been raised, The price was variously cited as $168,000 By then, there were plans to raise $500,000 for renovation, including fixes to the windows, walls, chimneys, and roof. Work began on February 28, 1976, when the wall in front of the studio's main entrance was demolished. and the renovation cost had increased to $1 million. The federal government had provided a $10,000 grant, and the Oak Park village government provided another $20,000. Ultimately, the foundation raised $250,000 between 1974 and 1980, all of which was spent on urgent repairs. Ten to fifteen volunteers formed the building's primary restoration team, The restoration team was variously nicknamed the "Hole in the Wall Gang", because they had destroyed the wall between the home and studio, and the "Saturday Morning Strippers", because they removed old paint from the walls. The restorers sought to replicate the original design precisely. The Home and Studio Foundation conducted archeological studies of the original architectural details, and it also commissioned studies of the building's history. accommodating 7,500 annual visitors by the late 1970s. In late 1977, the foundation presented four options for the building's restoration, which ranged from retaining the existing appearance to restoring a design from a certain year. Ultimately, the foundation decided to restore the house to its 1909 appearance. Lloyd coordinated with the Home and Studio Foundation until his death in 1978, and Lloyd's brother David was also active in the restoration process. The first phase of renovations cost $38,000 and included repairs to the roof, windows, walls, and decorative trim. and the Ginkgo Tree Shop relocated to one of the garages that year. Studio renovation From 1980 to 1981, another $180,000 was raised for the building's renovation, The Home and Studio Foundation announced in October 1981 that it would raise $1 million for further renovations; at the time, the foundation had already raised more than $300,000. at which point that work was budgeted at $650,000. Unlike the home, the studio had to be fully reconstructed. Initial work on the studio included repairs to the structural foundation, floors, and walls. The Home and Studio Foundation received a $100,000 challenge grant from the National Endowment for the Arts the next month, which required the foundation to raise another $400,000 by January 1985. At that point, the Home and Studio Foundation had raised about $1.1 million. The foundation relocated to Wright's mother's house in 1985. The rooms above the office and drafting room were removed, and the office and the drafting room's balcony and storage areas were rebuilt. Workers discovered pieces of the original design and furnishings that had remained in the house over the years. The foundation received a grant from Steelcase in early 1984, which covered much of the remaining restoration cost. to 40,000 annual visitors by the mid-1980s. Workers restored the house's murals in 1986, and American Express financed the restoration of two sculptures above the studio's entrance. By the middle of that year, the project was finished except for furnishings. The Home and Studio Foundation borrowed Wright–designed objects from other buildings due to the high cost of these objects. The studio's renovation alone had cost $1.25 million, and the overall project had cost about $2 million. The museum had 67,000 annual visitors by the 1980s, and gift-shop revenue increased as well. The increased visitation caused its own problems: Two faucets and a brick were stolen soon after the renovation was finished. Additionally, David Wright had insisted that the house's original staircase had been much narrower than what had been built during the renovation. As such, workers rebuilt the staircase again in 1991 with funds from David and his wife Gladys. To pay for maintenance and promotion, the Home and Studio Foundation continued to host tours and sell merchandise. The museum accommodated at least 74,000 annual visitors by the 1990s. Local residents were increasingly frustrated with the popularity of the museum and its walking tours, claiming that tourists invaded their privacy, though museum officials tried to limit the sizes of their tours. The Home and Studio Foundation, which became the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust that year, sold engraved bricks to finance the renovations of the Robie House and Wright's Oak Park compound. In 2007, the museum's Ginkgo Tree Bookshop became the Home and Studio Museum Shop. 2010s to present After Celeste Adams became the Wright Trust's president in 2010, she began making plans to repaint the home and studio, and the trust also devised plans for the building's maintenance. The trust began raising funds to buy the home and studio the following July, and it obtained the building in May 2012 after paying off its lease. Afterward, it continued to raise funds for the building's maintenance. Additionally, due to narrow stairs, the restored balcony in the studio's drafting room was originally closed to the public. The Wright Trust opened the balcony in 2014, although only the first and last tour groups of the day were allowed onto the balcony. The Wright Trust purchased a neighboring house at 925 Chicago Avenue in December 2017 for $340,000. Although Wright had not had any connection to the house, the trust wished to use it for future investment. In June 2019, the trust proposed demolishing 925 Chicago Avenue and modifying 931 Chicago Avenue John Ronan was hired to design the one-story visitor center, which would have included a store, an information center, a reception hall, and a plaza connecting it to the main home. Ronan's proposal had beaten out designs from four other firms. The Historic Preservation Commission of Oak Park rejected Ronan's plans in August 2019 after several commissioners opposed the plans. Tours of the home and studio were suspended in March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Illinois. The building reopened that June. Next door, 925 Chicago Avenue remained vacant for two years, and its exterior became rundown. During late 2023, the trust replaced the building's roof, installed replacement shingles, and restored the two chimneys. The next year, the village of Oak Park approved the revised visitor-center plans. == Architecture ==

Wright's Oak Park home and studio was the first house that he designed without a partner. or the Queen Anne style, and the studio is cited as being in the Prairie style. Exterior The facades of both the house and studio are made of brick, stone, battens, and shingles, He also included design details like inglenooks and protruding polygonal bays, which opened onto a veranda to the west. Two polygonal bays protrude from the living room onto the veranda, The studio occupies the house's former northern yard, As seen from the north, the studio consists of a rectangular hall with a two-story octagonal drafting room to the east and a one-and-a-half-story octagonal library to the west. The studio was built very cheaply; it rested on brick piers, which were connected to each other by wooden joists and girders. When the studio's basement level was constructed in the 1980s the piers were replaced with caissons. It was accessed by a wide stoop until 1905, when a low partition wall flanked by stairs was installed in front of it. The current plaque is a replica of the original, which was moved in 1911 to Taliesin. and was removed in the 1970s. Interior Both sections of the building are wood-frame structures. Though the home and the studio are internally connected, both sections of the building have distinct designs. Both the house and the studio are arranged around central fireplaces. Wright used a gold and green color scheme throughout the building, being furnished with objects that Wright had obtained at auction. Wright also designed some of his own furniture for the house. Some decorative details, like ceiling panels and the original floor plan, were inspired by Japanese architecture. Wright also designed other objects for the building, such as lights, toys, and kitchenware. These include furniture and Froebel gifts, as well as a display of Lincoln Logs, a toy invented by Wright's son John. in a variation of the then-popular "four square" floor plan. The rooms to the east originally overlooked a rear porch, The entry hall has a plaster frieze, whose design was copied from the ancient Greek Pergamon Altar. Wright narrowed the stairs between 1905 and 1907, a subsequent restoration maintained the narrowed width. and built-in seating. The living room's ceiling has plaster beams and a cornice patterned after those of the Auditorium Theatre's second-story lobby. The 1895 dining room replaced the original kitchen. It has a red-tile floor, golden walls, and oak trim, which were intended to emphasize the house's earth-toned color palette. In contrast to Wright's earlier rooms, which had wallpaper, the walls are covered with burlap. A partially-octagonal, five-sided bay with art-glass windows extends to the south; The dining room has a table and high-backed chairs; The study replaced the original dining room. After its 1895 renovation, the study had tall cabinets and a sculpture by Hermon Atkins MacNeil. The study contains a table and chairs salvaged from Wright's other buildings, as well as a replica of a cabinet. The adjacent pantry was also expanded during the 1895 renovation and has a sink, maple floors, and cabinets. A secondary stair to the second floor, extending off the pantry, dates from that renovation. To the east is a maid's room and kitchen, both added in 1895. Studio first floor The studio's Chicago Avenue loggia leads to a reception hall with three gold-and-green art glass skylights, separated by deep wooden beams. The south wall of that room was originally angled but was remodeled in the mid-1900s, creating a rectangular reception hall. Doorways lead south from the reception hall to the office, west to the library, and east to the drafting room. Like the original house, the studio's rooms are arranged around a central fireplace. Underneath these rooms is a full basement, which was built in the 1980s for the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust's research center. or high. as well as plaster moldings and wood carvings. and the first floor has small windows on two sides. Wright designed the original furniture, including backless wooden stools, tables, and cabinets. The corners of the drafting room originally had closets, since the octagonal balcony above it was smaller than the main drafting-room floor. Ledges were suspended from the balcony in 1905, When the house was restored in the 1970s, the original mantel was restored, and replicas of the original furniture were added. Leading off the drafting room is a corridor with a pitched wooden ceiling and a short flight of stairs ascending to the house. It had poplar and basswood furniture, which he designed himself, in addition to a round-arched brick fireplace. The office originally had an art-glass ceiling, which was removed in 1911. An art glass door on the west wall, dating from the same era, replaced a set of windows on that wall. The connection to the library is via a short, low corridor lined with cabinets. There are no windows at ground level, as Wright did not want visitors to be distracted. Instead, the room is illuminated by globes, The plaster ceiling is pitched upward, matching the slope of the roof; In addition to replicas of the original cabinets, the library is furnished with a table and chairs. The studio–bedroom has a high ceiling and built-in cabinets. The studio–bedroom is bisected by a partition, which separated the Wrights' sons' and daughters' bedrooms; it displays a table and a bed salvaged from Wright's other buildings. The dayroom has built-in closets and a polygonal bay at its southern end, which has a lower ceiling than the rest of the room. A low passageway north of the dayroom extends east to the playroom, built in 1895. a feature that Wright never used in any other building. The ceiling's skylight had four ornate oak grilles, which were reproduced in the 1980s. The lowest portions of the playroom's walls are made of brick. The walls are decorated with Japanese prints, while the doorway is topped by a sculpture of the Winged Victory of Samothrace. which could be retracted into a stairwell. The mural above the fireplace, depicting a story from The Arabian Nights, was painted by Giannini. The balcony was supported by a "harness" of chains extending up to the ceiling rafters and outward to the clerestory walls. Adjoining the balcony were a darkroom and workrooms, replacing the drafting room's balcony. The balcony's railing has a quote by Rudyard Kipling, In contrast to the original balcony, there are steel beams under the modern-day balcony. == Management ==

The Wright Home and Studio is owned by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, The trust also maintains the Rookery Building in Chicago. Though most interpreters are adults who have undergone interviews or training, the trust has also allowed local students to lead some tours. In addition to guided 60-minute tours of the interior, the Preservation Trust hosts "restoration tours" that discuss aspects of the building's restoration. Since 2018, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio has been part of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trail, a collection of 13 buildings designed by Wright in Illinois. The trust also began hosting tours of local buildings in February 1975. though the route of the tour is changed every year, the tours have always included the home and studio. most of which are privately owned, aside from the museum and the nearby Unity Temple. Programs, events, and other initiatives Over the years, the Home and Studio Foundation has hosted various programs, including educational workshops for youth, an architecture camp for adults, and the annual "Wright Places" tour and conference. During the Christmas holiday season, the foundation has hosted Christmas–themed events, and it has redecorated parts of the house. In addition, the foundation has assisted owners of other historic houses designed by Wright, and it has also sponsored trips to other buildings that Wright designed. Objects such as books, puzzles, and clothing are sold through the Home and Studio Museum Shop (formerly the Ginkgo Tree Bookshop). When the Wright Home and Studio Foundation was established, it acquired photographs of, and documents about, the building. The collection expanded to include 12,000 colorized images of the building, including the renovation process. == Impact ==

Architectural influence , Johnson Wax Headquarters, Larkin Administration Building, and Unity Temple. Reception Wright's eldest son Lloyd recalled that, when he was growing up, children derided the building as "the crazy architect's house", although Lloyd could not sympathize with their perspectives. Russell Sturgis dubbed the studio "extremely ugly" and a "monster of awkwardness" in a 1904 critique of Wright's work. Local residents frequently talked about the house, which stood out from the Gothic Revival homes nearby. A reporter for the Waterloo Region Record said in 2004 that the building "still looks like it is way ahead of its time" despite being over a century old. and a booklet about the structure was published in 1983. The Wright Trust took 1,500 photographs documenting the restoration itself, Other publications about the home and studio's history include a 1997 book by Kathryn Smith and a 2021 book by Lisa D. Schrenk. In addition, the building was detailed in Murray Grigor's 1982 documentary about Wright's Oak Park buildings, a 1984 episode of the PBS TV show The Old House, and a 1998 video biography by A&E Television Networks. ''Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio, a 2009 video tour and documentary about Wright, was also set at the building, and it was used extensively as a setting for season 4, episode 5, of the TV series The Bear''. Oak Park officials considered including the Wright Home and Studio as part of a municipal historic district in 1971. The home and studio was nominated along with 54 other Prairie-style buildings in Oak Park, comprising most of the village's 61 Prairie-style structures. When the district was created the next year, the complex was located in the district's boundaries. The building is also part of the Frank Lloyd Wright–Prairie School of Architecture Historic District, a National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) district, which was established in 1973. The building was re-added to the NRHP in 1976 when it was declared a National Historic Landmark. == See also ==