Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
At first glance, this pleasant house in the leafy Oak Park neighbourhood could be just another residential home. But this building was designed and built here in 1889 when Frank Lloyd Wright was just 22 years of age. He lived in it for two decades, raising a family and working in his studio. Today, you can take a guided tour round the house and see how this great man lived.
This building was once the spot where Wright would experiment with his designs, adding and developing features and furniture which would later become his established style. With his first wife Catherine, he raised six children here before closing the studio and migrating across the Atlantic in 1909. In recent years, the house was bought back and restored it to the way it was when Wright left it.
Visit the playroom Wright made for his children as well as the mezzanine on the second floor, which was used as a platform to seat an audience when his children performed plays at home. In his studio, you’ll get to see his library and drafting room and learn more about how he used space, with long open rooms bringing in plenty of natural light. It was in this studio that Wright designed some of his greatest works, including Unity Temple.
In the Oak Park community, Wright designed twenty-seven different buildings, mainly surrounding residential houses. From the gift shop here, you can pick up an audio guide to explore the neighbourhood and wander its pleasant streets, stopping off in the shops and restaurants.
Architecture lovers head here in droves, but the 90-minute tour will interest anyone interested in history with guides telling you all about Wright’s life and work. If you don’t book in advance, you may have to wait to join a tour as group sizes are limited. If you want to take any photos, you’ll have to purchase a photography pass as well as your tour ticket.
Oak Park is situated about 15 kilometres to the west of Chicago’s Loop, easy to reach on public transport from the heart of town.