Driving My Tesla Out of My Frank Lloyd Wright House

 
Way back when it was still warm and balmy in the city of Chicago, we journeyed out to the neighborhood of Oak Park to see the one and only (well, one of many) Frank Lloyd Wright house, run by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.  What makes this particular one special compared to the other Lloyd Wright houses in Oak Park and the greater Chicago area is that this was the architect's home and studio from 1889-1909.  It's the official Frank Lloyd Wright house, if you will. 


Driving into the neighborhood, we were greeted with beautiful examples of the traditional Victorian-style house.  (Elizabeth: The one to the left was my particular favorite of those.)  These houses are roughly contemporary with the Frank Lloyd Wright house and more closely resemble what one might imagine was the predominant style of the time.  And then you see Mr. Wright's house.  The exterior is much more modern, almost mid-20th century to my mind, as if he were predicting the future of architecture 70 years out.

Michel:  Lots of triangles.

Elizabeth: And lots of rectangles.  Just lots of angles in general.

Michel:  But triangles were his main thing.

 Elizabeth: But the guide made a point of pointing out all the shapes together.

Michel: But mostly the triangles.  I refer you to the sign below.

Elizabeth:  Fine. 

Michel: See the triangle?  Kapooyow!

Elizabeth:  Ok, so we had found a coupon for tours of the house and studio and decided to go see all of the shapes that Mr. Wright employed.  There are octagons, too, you know.   We don't want them to feel left out.

Michel: But what is an octagon if not 8 triangles?
 

  

 





Vision Test:  We figured we'd let the Oak Park Chamber of Commerce do the work on the historical background.

Elizabeth:  The tour started in the back yard near the ginkgo tree and gift shop, took us through the house, which he designed and redesigned for his growing family, and studio area.  Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures inside, but not only was the architectural innovation impressive but so was the thought and detail he put into making his design space a real home for his family.  One of my favorite rooms was the children's playroom, which included a stage and loft where they could put on plays.

Michel: I liked the playroom, too.  To the right you see the embalmed remains of Frank Lloyd Wright.  He was made of stone, which makes his entire career all the more impressive and inspirational.

Elizabeth:  Except that he wouldn't be embalmed if he were made of stone, and, also, I believe that statue is a woman, according to the guide literature.

Michel:  One, even stone wears away over time, thus stone people need embalming.  Two, assuming feminine features exist only in women is sexist.

Elizabeth:  Except I'm not assuming.  I'm going by the official literature and what FLW said himself about carving the statue.  You should try it some time.

Michel:  Agree to disagree.

Elizabeth:  The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust has done a remarkable job of restoring and preserving the home and studio, down to the tiniest details.  It's really spectacular.  I never really realized how ahead of his time Mr. Wright was until this tour. 

Michel:  After the Wrights moved out, the house was converted into 7 apartments.  It remained this way until the 1970's when the house was declared a historical site and the restoration work began.

Elizabeth:  And the crazy thing is you can walk out the front door and down the street to see several more examples of Wright's work.  There are walking tours of the Oak Park neighborhood devoted to seeing his designs, and there is plenty to see.  The neighborhood essentially functions like an art gallery devoted to his work.

Michel:  We saw a dude driving a Tesla out of the driveway of this house.

Elizabeth:  This is one of the FLW houses.  Must be nice.

Elizabeth:  We took just a short walk down the block to the car, and we saw 3 additional FLW houses.  There were plenty of other people wandering around, clearly on the walking tour, but the residents hardly seem to notice the random strangers gawking at their houses.

Michel:  I imagine it's like living inside a museum.

Elizabeth:  This last house, the Moore-Dugal Residence, reminded me of a church.  It was pretty cool.

Michel:  Note the triangles.

Oak Park is gorgeous, and we look forward to exploring it more when the weather turns nice again!