THE OAK PARK HOME AND STUDIO

The Oak Park house’s main purpose was not only a personal residence for Wright, it was probably even more a way to satisfy his urge to create his own style and implement his vision. He married his first wife, Catherine in 1889, the same year he bought the plot of land on which the Oak Park House was build after Wright was granted a loan from his employers at “Adler and Sullivan”. Between them they had six children. As said before this made him remodel the house over time.

In the beginning money was most likely a limiting factor, which may be the reason for the house being small to start off with. Building areal was not a problem as the plot was large enough to accommodate more than what was finally produced. Later when money was no longer a constraint, the multiple remodellings were limited by the original design.

As time went by Wright decided to work from home to spend more time close to his children. In this way he was again his own client, and had the opportunity to create a working space the way he himself envisioned it.

Throughout his life Wright has had several relationship. In 1903 he became infatuated with the wife of a client, Mamah. In 1911 he moved into a new home together with Mamah, still being married to Catherine. He started a new studio in Wisconsin, and halted his activities in the Oak Park studio. To be able to support Catherine and their children, they decided to rent out the house. They moved into the studio which underwent an extensive remodelling.

In this way his family circumstances had a significant impact upon the build.

It turned out to be the start of a new architectural style, which we will come back to later in this paper.

On June the 8th in 1867 Frank Lloyd Wright was born in Richland Centre, Wisconsin. From his childhood he was encouraged by his mother, who was certain that he would one day become a great architect.

One of the ways in which his mother encouraged him was by buying him Fredrich Fröbel’s “Fröbel Gifts”. These gifts where building blocks which would help children with practical education at a very early age. In this way Fredrich Froebel was likely a major influence on Wright’s interest in architecture later in life, it may also be the cause for his fondness of geometric design.

Wright had an interest in construction and took some classes in engineering. He started his career as an architect after the Chicago fire of 1871, a tragic event which created a lot of work in the building industry. Within a few years he worked his way up to a prestigious position at Adler and Sullivan, a successful architecture firm.

In 1893 he started his own firm, which helped him develop his own style. The evolution of this style would start with large open floor plans, reflecting the open and free nature. From here it developed into simple utilitarian designs, focusing on blending into the nature around.

Designing structures using geometric shapes will often give it a more timeless and natural aesthetic. Wright used these geometric shapes with mathematical operations to create structures which followed the same principle as the structures seen in nature.

Another important note about Wright’s architecture is that he did not only apply these concepts to the structure itself, but also to the space between the structure as this is a meaningful part of the architectural work as well.

As mentioned above Wright was originally from Wisconsin. When he started looking for employment he went to Chicago, as the rebuilt after the great fire required many skilled hands. At this time the suburbs where rapidly expanding and Wright decided to place his own house away from the main road, Chicago Avenue.

During this period the Victorian style was omnipresent and the primary style of building. Wright distanced himself from this European movement. Influenced by the wide American landscapes he started to build a structure closely connected to nature, incorporating the surroundings into the design. A design with a more continuous and open feeling to it as opposed to the partitioned and over the top decoration which was the trademark of the Victorian style.

This new style of which Wright was one of the frontrunners, became known as the Prairie style, this is most likely due to it’s popularity in the region and the fact that Chicago was built on a prairie. Being in the newly popular suburbs, the plot he bought had a view of the yet to be developed prairie. Wright used to say “Prarie buildings are married to the ground”.

Several young architects joined the path of the new architectural movement, away from classicism. They felt the urge to develop a modern and authentic American style. They shared loft space in the Steinway Hall in Chicago's Loop in 1896. The group included amongst others: Frank Lloyd Wright, Robert C. Spencer, Jr., Myron Hunt, Dwight H. Perkins, Walter Burley Griffin, and Marion Mahony Griffin.

This part of the new Americanism happened which clearly influenced Wright in this built, seen in the murals throughout the house. This phenomena worked both ways, Wright in his own way provided what the Americans were longing for; an identity.

The facade of the early period of the house shows clear prairie style aspects 1; the grouping of three geometric solids, asymmetric and with prominent horizontal details. Also the materials used are typical for that style; shingles, board, brick and stone. The fencing reaches to the borders of the plot, thereby extending and reinforcing its horizontal prominence. It all fits in with the land, again typical for the prairie style.

The house changed over time, by 1909 the glass patterns and the roofing had become rectangular and flat. The entrance is very visible, a detail which Lloyd later parted with; one of his trades became the almost secret front doors.

The façade tells the story of the two function inside the house. It is strongly influenced by the development he went through during the period of several years he experienced as a young architect. The house is more traditional than the office, clearly showing the evolving prairie style.

In the original building there was no separate entrance. After the first extension a separate entrance was created. It borders Forest Avenue, and was created in 1895. The entrance is openly connected to the living and study. There are no sliding doors. Through the use of horizontal trimmings an extra connection is in place. Like all his houses there are several centrally placed stone fireplaces.

In the living room two window bays are joined in the corner of the room, a feature which would later develop into his well-known corner window. He used many windows, which he called “light screens” According to his own quote “The reality of the space isn’t in the walls themselves, but in the space contained to be lived in” from Lao-Tzu. He translated this philosophy in dissolving edges and borders of the spaces. Thereby transforming walls into protecting structures only there when needed. A nice example of this is the Falling water house in Pennsylvania in commission by Kaufmann.

The dining room connect to the entrance through a small passage under the stairs. It was originally the kitchen. The room differs somewhat from the rest of the house by being small, and more crowded. The ceiling is lowered, and the high chairs create an extra central space around the table. The surrounding bays are filled, like everywhere, with shelves, inbuild benches and are covering up the heating radiators. He thereby architecturizes the furniture where it clearly shows the influence of the shakers, the religious community from where he grew up. Also this room shows his preference of blending away the borders; the floor tiles continue up the walls of the fireplace, and the ceiling seamlessly goes down the walls.

The main feature here is the open ceiling. Frank Lloyd Wright had a clear opinion about attics; he thought of them as a waste of space. The transition of the walls into the ceiling is covered by stencil patterns. There is an en-suite bathroom, an unusual feature in that period. The walls of this bathroom are beautifully covered by high rising horizontal boardings, playing with our perception.

Originally this was the design studio, but as the family grew, it was turned into two bedrooms. The division is made up of a partition which does not extend all the way up to the ceiling, which is a shared one between the rooms. So creating the feeling of a bigger space than actually available.

In the south Catherine’s room is located, meant for use during daytime. It is known that she used to read and draw. She even used it to take care of sick children. The room is divided in separate space by a different ceiling height. An extra set of windows at the level change provides for plenty daylight coming in. The southern part underneath the low roofing has large outswing windows, which provide for sample lighting and fresh air. The radiator is built in, as seen below, and provides in this way for shelf space. The ambient light reflects of off-white walls, thus creating a nice light atmosphere, even when the sun does not shine so brightly. This is a room with an atmosphere not present in the rest of the house.

This is a room with many different architectural feats; spatial dynamics, functional considerations, illusion, visual metaphor, decorative arts, structural experiment. In his early works he often used many different techniques, as if he was experimenting. The room was meant for his children and was well suited. It is shaped as a barrel, and spans five and a half meters. The stained glass windows create an outside atmosphere, both summer and wintertime. The connection between the arched roof and the walls is hidden by the placement of a continuous shelf. Together with the different colour and material (a duality he often uses) this makes it look like it is detached, kind of floating. The low height of the walls make the ceiling appear even higher. The room extends into Catherine’s room in one end. One can see the different height of the railings, which create the illusion of a greater depth than the actual one. Both sides of the room contain window bays, holding benches. The windows are made of artsy stained glass, like the ones in the ceiling, creating a look of leaves. In this way the playroom flows in five directions; windows to the sides, Catherine’s dayroom, the mural and the ceiling. The room is filled with geometrical shapes like arches and rectangles, through which certain order exists.

The entrance is contrary to the one facing Forest Avenue a complex one. The use of two rows of columns in front of the door, and the pathway which forces the visitor/customer to make several turns he manages to diffuse the boundaries between outside and inside. Besides the entrance is a plaque with name and profession, as well as a symbol of a cross inside a circle inside a square. The combination I repeated in the limestone urns above the stairs.

Here a tranquillity is created by skylights of stained glass with abstractions of green leaves, dark trimmings and gold coloured walls. The plan desk holding spread out drawings showed the quality of the work done inside. From here both library and the drafting room are reached.

Although exteriorly set up as an octagonal space, it comprises a combination of squares, rectangles and octagonals. Some say that here the later design of the Guggenheim Museum already was present. The windows higher than eyelevel, to prevent distraction form the work in front of you. The ceiling contains several skylights, not unusual, but this time without any staining or subdivision.

The room is lit from above, which is no surprise. But this time he designed an open plan workroom, which he later repeats like in the Larkin building. Here up to six apprentices made the drawings of his designs. Eyelevel windows minimized to prevent distraction. The lower level is square opposed to the upper level, which again is octagonal. Within this octagon the chain sustained balcony yet is square again, as usual playing with perception and diffusing the borders.

The last room is the business office where the contracts were signed.

Due to personal circumstances (see earlier) the family broke up, and Frank moved back to Wisconsin. It created a necessity to provide for the family, while the studio was no longer in use. Again the building underwent a remodelling; the house was rented out, while the family moved into the former studio.

The function of the house stayed the same, which is why the changes to it were rather minor. The entrance changed façade, and the partition in the western bedroom of the children was removed.

The conversion to living quarters had a major impact. The entrance was made more private by changing it into a porch. In the south-east corner garages were build, the automobile had come to stay. The drafting room turn into a new living room, and the open ceiling was closed up, and the octagon changed into a square structure providing space for four bedrooms. Catherine got a new room on top of the old office.

By 1925 the family had moved on, and the property was sold. After the conversion to an apartment building, Wright’s home and studio was sold. The building was poorly maintained by the new owners due to financial issues and fell into disrepair in the 60s. By 1974 the building was given to the “National Trust for Historic Preservation” and restorations began, and would not be completed for another 13 years. The building has since been declared a National Historic Landmark, and is operated by the “Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust” as a museum.

Due to this effort and recognition we are now able to visit this remarkable landmark representing an important change in American architecture.