THE FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TOUR

Robert G Emmond House

109 S Eighth Ave, La Grange, Illinois 60525

The date of the Robert Emmond House, 1892, indicates that this is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's bootleg houses, being that it was not an Adler & Sullivan commission. The Emmond House is very similar to the Robert Parker and Thomas Gale houses of Oak Park, virtually identical in fact, though mirrored. Despite its Victorian massing, the house maintains a strong sense of geometry, with sharp lines and angles, giving it a modern edge. The beautiful ribbon of diamond paned art glass windows wrapped around the polygonal bay is a common feature of Wright's. Unlike the Gale and Parker Houses, the house has arched entryways, again reminiscent of Louis Sullivan. The side porch was a later addition. 

Located in the Kenwood neighborhood of Chicago, the George Blossom House is one of Frank Lloyd Wright's earliest designs completed in 1892. The George Blossom House is also one of the bootleg houses that Frank Lloyd Wright completed while still employed with the firm of Adler & Sullivan. It is one house south of the Warren MacArthur House, another of Frank Lloyd Wright's bootleg homes. The juxtaposition of these two 1892 Frank Lloyd Wright Homes is incredible, as the viewer, even if he was not a Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast, would conclude that the two home were not created by the same architect because of how vastly different they are.

The George Blossom House is unlike any other of Frank Lloyd Wright's designs. Sometimes declared Dutch Colonial, Neoclassical, or Palladian,  the George Blossom House also has undertones of a Prairie Style Home. It could even be considered a very early Prairie Home. Though the ornament of the structure points to a home of European influence (and simultaneously demonstrates Wright's ability to build in the European tradition despite his negative attitude toward doing so), the general massing of the house points to the Prairie Style. The formation of the front of the house looks similar to that of the Winslow House, though without the frieze of ornament beneath the roofline. The George Blossom House has a low hipped roof with overhanging eaves that would be seen in Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style Houses nearly a decade later. 

The house is beautiful, though it looks fragile and could certainly use a little work. The front porch looks dangerously decayed and the wooden spindles of the side porch are so warped they are nearly touching each other, but there is a certain beauty in this. The George Blossom House sits on a corner lot, so when walking around the side of the house, one can see that the back of the house differs from the front in its massing -it has a rounded bay that pushes out of the back of the home. The detailing in the window-work is pristine. 

Frank Lloyd Wright would later build a detached garage behind the George Blossom House that is designed in full Prairie Style. It mimics the general massing of the actual home, but is stripped of historic influence. The low hipped roof and overextending eaves match the home, and the additional use of yellow Roman bricks, ribbons of windows,  and general formation make the house Prairie Style. 

Francis Woolley House, 1893

1030 Superior Avenue, Oak Park IL

The Francis Wooley House in Oak Park was one was of Wright’s earliest independent commissions and is stylistically typical of the time period, though not specifically to Wright. The Wooley House is arguably the least dramatic of Wright’s designs, though this may be attributed to the small budget Wright had to work with. In the Wooley House, he was trying to demonstrate that a beautiful house could be built for a small price, though Wright would have trouble doing this in his later career. The characteristics that point directly to Wright are the overhanging roof eaves, still a new concept in his buildings, as well as the siding. Horizontal clapboard siding is brought up to just beneath the windowsills of the second floor. Typically this type of siding would cover the entire façade, or it would be brought up to the first floor. But Wright would often raise the siding to the base of the second floor, as seen later in the Harry Goodrich House of 1896. Between the horizontal clapboard siding and the roof are shingles, another common feature of Wright’s early work. For a time, the Wooley House was covered in asphalt shingles, but has recently been restored to Wright’s original exterior design.