By the turn of the 20th-century, Frank Lloyd Wright reached his peak Prairie style design phase, meeting his own definition and interpretation of the architectural style. His first mature Prairie design became the Frank W. Thomas House at 210 Forest Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park. James Rogers, an Oak Park resident and successful grain merchant, commissioned Wright to construct the house as a wedding gift for his daughter Sue and husband Frank W. Thomas. All individuals involved contributed to the planning and design of the house.Completed in 1901, the Frank Thomas House became a unique fixture in Oak Park. The combination of the house’s features is what sets it apart from Wright’s earlier works and designates it as his first fully- realized Prairie style house. Aside from the standard horizontal emphasis, low-pitched roof, overhanging eaves, casement windows, and stucco exterior, the two-story Thomas House possesses no basement which became a defining feature of this architectural style. Instead, the service rooms were all situated on the ground floor while the “main” floor of the house was placed on the second story. Neighbors and other neighborhood residents came to call the Thomas House “the Harem” due to the front elevation of the house possessing an arched walkway behind which is found a hidden entrance stair. In 1924, fellow Prairie style architects Tallmage and Watson remodeled the house though no renderings of the designs exist.The Frank W. Thomas House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1972.

Frank Thomas House webpage at the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

More Info

Constructed in 1901, the Frank W. Thomas House is considered the first fully-mature example of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style of architecture. The specific features of this house that determine its Prairie style authenticity is its emphasis on the horizontal, lack of basement, low roof with overhanging eaves, casement windows, and a stucco exterior. James Rogers, an Oak Park resident and grain merchant, commissioned Wright to design the house as a wedding gift for his daughter Sue and husband Frank Thomas. In 1924, fellow Prairie style architects Tallmage and Watson remodeled the house though no renderings of the designs exist. The Frank W. Thomas House was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 14, 1972.

Frank W. Thomas House

The Village of Oak Park, Illinois is one of Chicago’s most famous suburbs, largely influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright and other modernist architects of the late-19th and early-20th centuries. First settled in the 1830s, the village became a quiet retreat for Chicago’s conservative upper-class. By the turn of the 20th century, Oak Park became an experimental playground for modernist architects like Frank Lloyd Wright who developed his own interpretation of the Prairie style of architecture within in village. Today, Oak Park contains the highest concentration of Prairie style buildings in the world.  This walking tour begins with the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio and continues to Wright’s Thomas H. Gale House, Arthur Heurtley House, and Frank W. Thomas House. The tour then visits Pleasant Home and Wright’s Unity Temple. The Oak Park Walking tour ends with the Cheney Mansion, the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum, and Wright’s Frank W. Thomas House.

Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the field of architecture with his version of the&nbsp;now-called, Prairie School of Architecture.&nbsp;This house represents, by most accounts, his first masterpiece. He spent the first portion of his adult life in Oak Park prior to moving to Europe, thus this building and his nearby office stand as a monument to Frank Lloyd Wrights development as a world-renowned architect. It also demonstrates the development of Oak Park Village, a nearby suburb of Chicago.&nbsp;Wright graduated high school in 1885 and in that same year his parents divorced -- his father left and never returned.&nbsp;Wright promptly enrolled at the University of Wisconsin to study civil engineering. However, to help pay for school, he took a job with the Engineering Department's dean where he met&nbsp;acclaimed architect Joseph Silsbee, of Chicago. He assisted Silsbee with the&nbsp;construction of the Unity Chapel. &nbsp;Wright loved it so much, he dropped out of school (1887) to work for Silsbee in Chicago.A year later, in 1888,&nbsp;Wright began an apprenticeship with the famous Chicago architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan. He&nbsp;worked directly under famed architect&nbsp;Louis Sullivan who, along with his rival Daniel Burnham, existed as one of the inventors of the Chicago School of Architecture and gave birth to the modern skyscraper.&nbsp;Sullivan was a proponent of the mantra, "form follows function," which greatly influenced Wright throughout his career. Wright worked with Sullivan until 1893 when Wright&nbsp;broke his contract by accepting private commissions to design homes.The early phase of Frank Lloyd Wright's storied career centered on his Oak Park home and Studio—what Grant Manson has called Wright's First Golden Age. He resided in Oak Park from 1887 to 1909, before leaving for Europe. The final phase of his Oak Park designs was completed in 1911 and 1913.&nbsp;This building, along with his nearby office on Chicago Ave., represents the first phase of a career that grew even more spectacular in the next decades. When Wright left Wisconsin for Chicago and the Oak Park neighborhood in 1887, the future suburb was rural and there were no streets leading directly to this property. The one structure included a small, Gothic cottage that served as his mother’s residence for many years. Although Oak Park was rural in 1887, its location was within easy commuting distance of the Chicago’s Downtown.In a short time, Frank Lloyd Wright helped transform this rough-woods site into a home and finally a studio-office and residence. The complex of buildings was built, rebuilt, and added onto; the complex became the center from which his practice grew and from where he formulated his ideas for the "Prairie Style." As well, this location serves as the place where he began his family life.In Lloyd’s early years, he developed his famous Prairie-house style (low horizontal structures with massive, overhanging roofs), which was a new style in modern architecture. The first house was modest and seemed to hug the ground, possessed a steep roof (in contrast to the typical hipped-Prairie roof that arrived later in his designs). The house also included many of the qualities attached to the picturesque Queen Anne style in both plan and elevation. Nonetheless, Frank Lloyd Wright put his own stamp on the design by employing an imaginative use of the inside space and showing a respect for nature; it was known locally as "the house with the tree through the roof." It was in that first, small house that Wright planned his famous "Bootleg houses," which produced his break with famous architect Louis Sullivan in 1893. That year he added the large second-floor playroom. Not long thereafter, he designed and built his separate, yet connected, workshop and professional quarters on nearby Chicago Avenue in Oak Park. He also made other changes to the house to accommodate his growing family as well as his architectural staff. In 1909, after the lauded series of designs had decisively established his reputation as an exceptional living architect, Frank Lloyd Wright in his fortieth year abandoned his life and work and left for Europe. He never returned to his studio on Chicago Avenue, although he designed several Oak Park houses in 1911 and 1913. &nbsp;However, that would be the last time he did work for Oak Park Village.

The early phase of Frank Lloyd Wright's career centered around this Oak Park home and Studio where he lived and worked at the turn of the century. When Wright left Wisconsin for Chicago in 1887, he settled in Oak Park. In 1889, he purchased this property and expanded and redesigned the home and studio several ties. Wright lived here with his wife Catherine Tobin from 1809 to 1909. It was here where Wright created many of his designs and formulated his ideas for the "Prairie Style." This is also where Frank and Catherine began his family life. Owing to his contributions to architecture, the home was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1976. The home has been restored to match its appearance when the Wrights left in 1909 by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust and is open to public tours.  


Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

Frank Lloyd Wright began his architectural career in Chicago, first working for Joseph Silsbee in 1887 then moving onto the architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan the following year. During the next year, the 22-year-old Wright married his first wife Catherin Tobin and constructed his now famous home with a $5,000 loan from Louis Sullivan in the up-and-coming Chicago suburb of Oak Park. Sullivan strictly prohibited Wright from taking on private commissions or working outside of the firm. However, Wright’s growing family pushed him to breech his contract and take on outside work. Between 1891 and early-1893, Wright secretly designed at least eight houses around Chicago, becoming known as his “Bootleg Houses.” Wright’s known Bootleg Houses are: the demolished Harlan House (Chicago), the demolished MacHarg House (Chicago), the Blossom House (Chicago), McArthur House (Chicago), Emmond House (LaGrange), Peter Groan House (LaGrange), Robert P. Parker House (Oak Park), and Thomas H. Gale House (Oak Park). Wright’s most famous and recognized Bootleg Houses are the Robert P. Parker House and the Thomas H. Gale House, mostly due in part to the houses being situated on the same block of Chicago Avenue as Wright’s home and studio.&nbsp;On the surface, Wright’s Bootleg Houses may appear architecturally simple compared to his later works, but the significance of these houses’ rests on the visibly transitional nature their design, reflecting the development of his future Prairie style. While the Thomas H. Gale House in particular boasts common Queen Anne style features like an irregular, high-pitched roof and asymmetrical massing, Wright began introducing elements of his own architectural theory. For instance, the Thomas H. Gale House features overhanging eaves, horizontal bands of windows, and an emphasis on the rectilinear that would later become defining features of Prairie style architecture.By early-Spring 1893, it is said that Louis Sullivan stumbled upon one of these Bootleg Houses, recognized it as Wright’s work, and dismissed Wright from Adler and Sullivan immediately. Wright understood his new-found freedom as an opportunity to begin his own architectural firm, so he began taking commissions. Many architectural historians consider Wright’s Bootleg Houses as one of the most pivotal periods of his career as it depicts the development of his Prairie style of architecture.

The Thomas H. Gale House is one of three houses that sit on Chicago Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. What sets apart these three houses, and a few others in the same neighborhood, is the fact that they were secret commissions by Frank Lloyd Wright. Known as his “Bootleg Houses,” Wright designed eight houses between 1891-1892 while under contract with the architectural firm Adler and Sullivan. The Thomas H. Gale House is one of Wright's most well-known Bootleg Houses, as it boasts clear transitional evidence of his development of the Prairie style of architecture. Wright immediately left the firm upon Louis Sullivan’s discovery of his commissions and began his solo career in 1893.

Thomas H. Gale House

Frank Lloyd Wright is considered by many architects and architectural historians as the greatest American architect. Heavily influencing a new architectural style, designing over 1,000 architectural works, witnessing over half of those designs come to fruition, Wright left his mark on the American landscape for generations to come. In 1887, Wright dropped out of the University of Wisconsin with the goal of pursuing a career in architecture. He moved to Chicago where he found work at the architectural firm Adler &amp; Sullivan. For the next six years, Wright absorbed the principles and theories of the burgeoning modernist architecture taking shape in America, and began developing his own architectural style that later became known as Prairie style.The little suburban village of Oak Park, Illinois became Wright’s experimental playground for developing his new architectural style. During the time that Wright worked for Adler &amp; Sullivan, he secretly designed four houses for his fellow Oak Park residents to supplement his income, which also allowed him to experiment with the designs and principles he would later use in his Prairie style of architecture. Known as his Bootleg Houses, the William H. Gale House, Thomas H. Gale House, Robert P. Parker House, and Francis J. Woolley House&nbsp;reflect the current architectural trends of the late-19th-century but possess unique features indicative of Wright’s design. When Louis Sullivan discovered these houses in 1893, Wright was charged with a breach of contract with Adler &amp; Sullivan and he departed the architectural firm. With his new freedom, Wright established his own architectural firm out of his Oak Park home.&nbsp;The William H. Winslow House became Frank Lloyd Wright’s first independent design. For the next sixteen years, he designed over twenty houses in Oak Park, during which time he perfected the Prairie style. With its distinguishing emphasis on long, low horizontals, low pitched rooves, and deep overhangs, this new architectural style aimed to reflect the landscape of the Midwest. Wright and his work became so influential and desirable around Oak Park that other residents commissioned other architects to construct houses in the neighborhood. By the time that Wright moved out of Oak Park with his mistress, there were over 80 Prairie style houses erected in Oak Park, believed to be the largest concentration of this style in America.In 1970, the Village of Oak Park authorized an architectural study of its buildings. The survey identified 328 historically significant structures, 80 of which being of Prairie style which included all of those designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. Two years later, the village established the Oak Park Historic District on the local level to protect and preserve its valuable architectural resources. Then on December 4, 1973, the Frank Lloyd Wright – Prairie School of Architecture Historic District, which focused more specifically on Wright’s and other’s Prairie style buildings, was added to the National Register of Historic Places.

Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and completed in 1902, the Arthur Heurtley House is the earliest and finest example of a fully-mature Prairie style house by Wright. The Heurtley House is one of the contributing properties within the Frank Lloyd Wright – Prairie School of Architecture Historic District which recognizes numerous homes demonstrating Wright’s development and influence of the Prairie style of architecture while he lived and worked in this neighborhood. Containing 80 contributing properties, 20 of which Wright designed himself, that represent the development and application of the architectural style, this historic district contains the highest concentration of Prairie style houses in the world. The Frank Lloyd Wright – Prairie School of Architecture Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973.

Arthur Heurtley House

Chicago’s economic boom of the late 19th-century spurred such a wave of new development and innovation that architects from across the country came to take part in rebuilding the city. Chicago became home to such architects as Frank Lloyd Wright, Joseph L. Silsbee, Henry Hobson Richardson, Dankmar Adler, Louis Henry Sullivan, and Daniel Burnham. Many of these men pioneered new architectural styles and structural designs, paving the way for our current architectural trends. One of these lesser-known architects, George W. Maher, practiced alongside Wright under Silsbee before setting out on his own shortly after 1888. Heavily influenced by the new Arts and Crafts Movement and the burgeoning Prairie style of architecture, Maher designed one of the world’s first and finest Prairie style houses, the Farson House – more commonly known as Pleasant Home.At the time of its completed in 1897, the Farson House was the largest estate in the Village of Oak Park, a suburb of Chicago. Built for John Farson, an investment banker and philanthropist, and his wife Mamie Ashworth Farson, the house is reminiscent of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Winslow House in River Forest. However, the Farson House is distinguished from the Winslow House for its noticeable break with the current architectural styles of Shingle and Colonial Revival. With its long and classic lines and deep-set front porch, the sheer sophistication of the design along with the cunified ornamental design of the house exterior and interior set it apart from other early Prairie style designs. Maher came to describe the unified ornamental arrangement of the Farson house as motif rhythm theory.&nbsp;Up until his death in 1910, John Farson acquired properties around the house and accumulated several acres which he aimed to convert into an Italian garden. Unfortunately, he did not live to see his dream come to fruition. Mamie Ashworth Farson sold the property to Herbert S. Mills shortly thereafter.&nbsp;Pleasant Home remained in the Mills family until Herbert’s heirs sold it to the Park District of Oak Park under the agreement that the estate be renamed Mills Park.&nbsp;Since then, the house has served as a home to the Historical Society of Oak Park and the senior citizens. In 1990, the Park District Board formed the Pleasant Home Foundation, a non-profit organization intended to raise funds to restore and preserve the house. Pleasant Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark on June 19, 1996.

Pleasant Home, also known as the Farson House, is an elaborately designed house by George W. Maher in 1897. Considered to be one of the first examples of Prairie style of architecture in the United States and George Maher’s most sophisticated surviving design. The significance of the house not only rests on its early design date, but the careful cohesion of the house’s interior and exterior ornamental scheme was one of the first for the architectural style. Maher coined the term motif rhythm theory for his ornamental scheme. The house is named for its original owner, John Farson, who lived in the house between 1897-1908, but it is colloquially known as Pleasant Home for it sits on the corner of Pleasant Street and Home Avenue. Pleasant Home was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 19, 1972 and designated a National Historic Landmark on June 19, 1996.

Pleasant Home

Oak Park’s Unitarian Universalist congregation traces its roots back to 1871 when a group of Unitarians and a group of Universalists joined together and formed Unity Church. Soon after, the congregation erected wood-framed church and worshipped out of the building. Then in 1905, lightning struck Unity Church and burned it to the ground. The rebuilding process was granted to one of the church’s congregants: Frank Lloyd Wright. Wright came from a long line of Universalists; his uncle was the Universalist preacher and social reformer Jenkin Lloyd Jones, his father also worked as a Universalist preacher, and his mother was very involved in the religion. Wright sought to create for his congregation a modern building that embodied the Unitarian principles of “unity, truth, beauty, simplicity, freedom, and reason.”&nbsp;Granted a mere $45,000 construction budget, Wright sought to make the most of the limited funds. As the primary building material, he chose concrete because it was cheap and allowed for a series of molds to be repeated multiple times. Wright put into practice the Unitarian beliefs when he left the concrete exposed, desiring to “bring out the nature of the materials.” The astutely modern exterior, with its sharp corners as sterile appearance, meant to generate a sense of introspection in a busy world. Wright was also tasked with designing the church interior, in which he demonstrated his masterful understanding of varying ceiling height and manipulating space to create emotion.&nbsp;Completed in 1907, the congregation chose to name its new house of worship Unity Temple two years later as it resembled no other religious building. The building quickly became an architectural icon due to its innovative and unconventional design and construction techniques. The originality of the building stemmed from the new architectural philosophy emerging in that form must follow function, a building must be designed around its function. With Unity Temple, we see that Wright physically manifested his and the congregation’s philosophy towards humanitarianism and religion. Many architects and architectural historians consider Unity Temple as the first modern building, which ushered in a new era and architectural style.&nbsp;Due to Unity Temple’s concrete exterior, severe water damaged developed over the years. In 2015, a $25 million restoration project occurred. For the next two years, the building was meticulously restored to its former glory. &nbsp;The Unity Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970 and designated as a National Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970.

When a fire destroyed the wood-framed church of the Oak Park Unitarian Universalist congregation in 1905, fellow Oak Park resident Frank Lloyd Wright offered to design them a new building. With a limited budget of $45,000 to design and construct not only the exterior, but the building’s interior and furniture, Wright turned to concrete as a cheap and abundant building material. Completed in 1907, the Unity Temple, as it came to be known, is considered by many architects and architectural historians as the first modern building in the world. The Unity Temple was added to the National Register of Historic Places on April 17, 1970 and designated as a National Historic Landmark on December 30, 1970.

Unity Temple

During the early-1910s, Caswell A. Sharpe, a prominent Chicago area realtor, commissioned architect Charles E. White, Jr. to construct a home for his family. When completed in 1913, Sharpe’s 2.5 story, 12,000-square-foot mansion became one of the largest residences in the Village of Oak Park. With six bedrooms, seven bathrooms, a paneled library, several reception rooms, separate servants’ quarters, and sophisticated interior materials. The house was designed to emulate an English country manor, and it sat on elegantly landscaped 2.2 acres. White previously worked as an architect in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio and was clearly influenced by Wright’s ideology that a building should reflect its natural surroundings. The Sharpes remained in the house until 1921.In 1922, Andrew and Mary Hooker Dole purchased the estate and lived there until their deaths. In the late 1940’s, the Dole’s niece Elizabeth Cheney inherited the property and resided in the mansion until her death in 1985. Prior to her death, Cheney bequeathed the mansion to the Park District of Oak Park. The house now bears the name of Cheney. Today, the elegance of Cheney Mansion has been preserved and it is a highly sought-after event space. The Cheney Mansion is a contributing member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District, and designated a local landmark in 2004.

Completed in 1913, the Cheney Mansion was designed by Charles E. White, Jr. for Caswell A. Sharpe, a prominent Chicago realtor. White, who once worked alongside Frank Lloyd Wright in his Oak Park Office, is one of Chicago’s underrated and lesser-known architects. The Cheney Mansion is considered White’s defining works. The Caswells lived in the mansion until 1921. The following year, Andrew and Mary Hooker Dole purchased the estate and lived there until their deaths. In the late 1940’s, the Dole’s niece Elizabeth Cheney inherited the property and resided in the mansion until her death in 1985. Prior to her death, Cheney bequeathed the mansion to the Park District of Oak Park. Today, the elegance of Cheney Mansion has been preserved and it is a highly sought after event space. The Cheney Mansion is a contributing member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District, and designated a local landmark in 2004.

Cheney Mansion

On July 21, 1899, Ernest Miller Hemingway was born the second child and first son to a wealthy family in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. Oak Park during the turn of the 20th-Century was a conservative Protestant refuge from the liberalness of Chicago. Frank Lloyd Wright and other influential architects were already leaving their modern marks on the small suburb when Hemingway came into the world. Urban legend has Hemingway describing Oak Park as “wide lawns and narrow minds,” but the authenticity of the quotes has never been determined. &nbsp;Designed by architect Wesley Arnold and constructed in 1890, the Queen Anne style house in which lived his parents, great uncle Benjamin Tyley Hancock, and maternal grandfather was the first home in Oak Park to have electricity. He was named after his maternal grandfather Ernest Hall and Great Uncle Miller Hall. His father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, was a local physician and his mother, Grace Hall Hemingway, was an accomplished vocalist and pianist who taught musical lessons from home. Both parents exhibited bouts of manic-depression and psychological instability. It was during these formative years while living in the Oak Park Avenue house that his parents began influencing his personality and adult persona and subsequent literary style.&nbsp;His father, Dr. Clarence Hemingway, was a man’s man and a skilled outdoorsman. The Hemingways owned a summer home called Windemere on Lake Michigan, where the family would spend their summers. It was here that Clarence instilled in his son a love and appreciation of nature, teaching him how to hunt and fish. This love of nature became a common theme found in many of Hemingway’s literary works. However, Clarence was also a very rigid authoritarian who often exhibited violent outbursts towards his family and expected his son to exhibit manly behaviors. On the other hand, Hemingway’s mother Grace often displayed erratic behaviors and dressed his older sister and him as twins, sometimes as boys but often time as girls. These spontaneous and unwelcomed thrusts into gender fluidity combined with the forced manliness from his father created a conflicted identity for the author.While suffering from the conflicting expectations from his parents, Hemingway often found refuge in the stories from his Uncle Tyley and Grandfather. Benjamin wTyley Hancock was a well-traveled man who recounted his stories and adventures to the young author, undoubtedly igniting Hemingway’s famous desire for adventure. When Benjamin Tyley Hancock passed away in 1933, Hemingway felt the loss deeply.Ernest Hemingway spent only six years living in the Queen Anne house on Oak Park Avenue, but they were one of the most influential periods of his life. Hemingway was six years old when his live-in grandfather passed away. His parents sold the house and moved into a new, modern Prairie style house on nearby Kenilworth Street where Ernest lived until graduating from high school.Throughout the rest of the 20th-Century, the former Hemingway residence fell into neglect. Then in December 1992, the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park purchased the home and spent the next decade meticulously restoring the property to its Victorian Era condition during Hemingway’s childhood. The house now serves as a museum, open Wednesday through Sunday.

Born on July 21, 1899 in a second-floor bedroom, Ernest Hemingway spent the first six years of his life in this Queen Anne style house with his parents, grandfather, and three sisters. Hemingway’s grandfather constructed the house in 1890 and it became the first residence in Oak Park to have electricity. When his grandfather died, the family sold the house on Oak Park Avenue and moved to a larger home on nearby 600 North Kenilworth Avenue where he remained throughout his adolescence. For many years, the house sat vacant and began deteriorating. In 1992, the Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park purchased the house and spent the next decade restoring the property to its condition during Hemingway’s childhood. The house now serves as a museum, open Wednesday through Sunday.

Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum

Around 1900, Edwin H. Cheney, an electrical engineer, commissioned Frank Lloyd Wright to design a new home for his family in the prosperous Chicago suburb of Oak Park. With this project, Wright designed one of his most intimate and inconspicuous houses. Completed in 1903, the Edwin H. Wright House appears as a modest one-story, hipped-roof brick home discreetly situated behind a Roman brick wall. But in reality, Wright simply raised the basement to ground level and concealed it behind the brick wall. All primary living spaces were placed on the upper story of the house along with 52 windows to provide ample light. Placing the front door of the house out of street view and forcing visitors to walk the length of the entire walled façade, the nature of the design created a sense of privacy and impenetrability.While Wright was involved with the creation of the house, he met Cheney’s wife Mamah (pronounced&nbsp;May-mah). Wright and Mamah embarked on an illustrious affair that peaked in 1909 when they both abandoned their families and fled to Europe, returning a year later. The affair came to an abrupt halt in 1914 when Mamah and her children were murdered by an unstable servant in Taliesin, Wright’s Wisconsin estate. The Edwin H. Cheney House is contributing member of the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973.

Completed in 1903, the Edwin H. Cheney House is a remarkable design of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style years. Constructed of brick, the house is unique in that it does not rise a full story above the ground and is partially obstructed from street-view by a low brick wall. The nature of the design created a sense of privacy and impenetrability, while the use of fifty-two windows situated above the wall allow for natural light in the interior. Despite its unique design, the house is known more for its residents and architect than for its aesthetic. While Wright was involved with the creation of the house, he met Cheney’s wife Mamah (pronounced May-mah). Wright and Mamah embarked on an illustrious affair that peaked in 1909 when they both abandoned their families and fled to Europe, returning a year later. The affair came to an abrupt halt in 1914 when Mamah and her children were murdered by an unstable servant in Taliesin, Wright’s Wisconsin estate. The Edwin H. Cheney House is contributing member of the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District and was added to the National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973.

Oak Park Walking Tour

Frank W. Thomas House

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information