Oak Park Walking Tour

1. Edwin H. Cheney House

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.

2. Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Museum

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.

3. Cheney Mansion

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.

4. Unity Temple

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.

5. Pleasant Home

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.

6. Frank W. Thomas House

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.

7. Arthur Heurtley House

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.

8. Thomas H. Gale House

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.

9. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

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.

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Oak Park Walking Tour

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