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Frank Lloyd Wright in Illinois
Eric Naing The influence that Frank Lloyd Wright had on the world is often vastly underrated. His many structures can be seen everywhere, and the imprint of his architectural style can be seen in countless buildings throughout the world. From his humble beginning building houses, until his death, Frank Lloyd Wright always managed to be both impressive and creative. It may seem odd that much of this talent developed during the time that he lived in Illinois, and odder still that it can be traced to the year 1900, but that was the year when he first incorporated his own elements of architecture in the famous Prairie Style. Frank Lloyd Wright was born Frank Lincoln Wright in Richland Center, Wisconsin, on June 8, 1867. As a child, Wright was strongly influenced to become an architect by his mother, Anna Lloyd-Jones. Wright studied at the University of Chicago before beginning his practice in Illinois. In Chicago, Wright was taken under the wing of architect Louis Sullivan. Wright eventually became the chief draftsman at Sullivan's firm, and also the man in charge of the firm's residential designs. From the late 1800s to the early 1900s, Wright was happily married to Catherine Tobin, and was searching for a professional identity of his own. During this time, forty-nine of his house designs were built. He operated out of his famous Oak Park residence in Illinois. As his reputation grew, so did his ambition. During the next period of his life, Wright worked mainly with European architecture, and was twice remarried. His notoriety continued to spread. Wright was probably most prolific during the post-World War I era. Some of his many accomplishments included the Price Tower skyscraper, the Marin County Civic Center, and the Guggenheim Museum. Wright continued to work until his death on April 9, 1959. His influence on architecture can be seen around the world. His radically different ideas shaped what we know of as modern architecture.
The time that Wright spent in Illinois was profoundly influential on American architecture. He created the famous Prairie Style with many other notable architects. The Prairie School was a brief association among a small group of architects who practiced in the Chicago area between 1900 and 1925. Although both Wright and Louis Sullivan were included, Wright was its principal philosopher and practitioner. Their purpose was to develop an American architecture suited to the Midwest. Although the style was applied mostly to homes, it was also adapted for banks, churches, schools, offices, libraries, and commercial buildings. Wright evolved the elements of the Prairie Style in reaction to the "tall" and "tight" Victorian houses, which he claimed were "overdressed" and "fancy-bracketed." He yearned for simplicity. "I loved the prairie by instinct as a great simplicity," he said. "I had an idea that the horizontal planes in buildings, those planes parallel to earth, identify themselves with the ground—make the building belong to the ground." The horizontal line became the most basic element of Prairie School design. Starting in 1900, Wright went through many steps when crafting the Prairie Style. First, he got rid of the residential attic. Next, he got rid of the "unwholesome basement." He replaced "chimneys bristling up everywhere" with "a broad generous one, or at most two . . . kept low-down," and he started the exterior walls "at the ground on a cement or stone water table," but stopped them "at the second-story window sill level to let the bedrooms come though above in a continuous window series." Then, he gave "broad protecting roof-shelter to the whole," and, he concluded, "the house began to associate with the ground and become natural to its prairie site." He also made the trim "plastic," as he put it, "light and continuously flowing," using materials that were simple and natural— generally wood, stone, stucco, brick, or the
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Wright constructed this home for a Kankakee family in 1900. mental sand, gravel, cement, and water that make up concrete. "In architecture," he asserted, "expressive changes of surface, emphasis of line, and especially textures of material or imaginative pattern may go to make facts more eloquent forms more significant." Surface, line, texture, and pattern became the ornamental elements for the Prairie School. Wright had often credited his involvement in the Prairie Style to a house that he worked on in 1900. In Kankakee, Illinois, Wright constructed a beautiful home for the Bradley family on the right bank of the Kankakee River. During the late 1890s, Wright had attempted to create something that was distinctive. The Bradley House offered his biggest opportunity. This goal was finally reached when the Bradley House was completed. To this day, this mansion displays some of Wright's trademark designs, some of which include sweeping roof lines, expanses of woodwork, and an affinity for a rural setting. The Bradley House has a cantilevered roof, or a roof with one fixed end compressed, and another free of tension. The inside of the house features sprawling, horizontal lines, which are meant to represent the flat Illinois prairie.
The talent of Frank Lloyd Wright is immeasurable. His many achievements have shaped what we call modern architecture. Starting from 1900 when he developed the Prairie Style in Kankakee to when he constructed the Guggenheim Museum, we can see what an impact he had.—[From Nancy Davis, "Kankakee's Yesteryear," Outdoor Illinois (May, 1977); Arlene Sanderson, "Buildings" The Wright Web Guide <www.sidwsways.com/fllw/>; Paul Sprague, "Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio: Homeward Bound,"Historic Preservation (July-September, 1976); William A. Storrer, The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright; Edgar Tafel, Years with Frank Lloyd Wright: Apprentice to Genius; Frank Lloyd Wright, An Autobiography.] 57 ILLINOIS HISTORY/ APRIL 2001 |
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