The Architectural Legacy of Frank Lloyd Wright in Illinois

ILLINOIS DAY-TO-DAY ITINERARY

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DAY 1: DISCOVER WRIGHT’S CHICAGO ARCHITECTURE

MORNING Your Frank Lloyd Wright journey begins on Chicago’s Gold Coast and the Charnley-Persky House Museum. Before he popularized the Prairie and Usonian styles across the country, Wright was a draftsman for acclaimed architect Louis Sullivan, and their 1892 collaboration on this North Side landmark is considered a major turning point in the development of the American home. While the design is credited to Sullivan, visitors can spot many elements that would become associated with Wright’s distinct style: modernist lines, abstract ornamentation, archways between rooms and elaborate woodwork. AFTERNOON Continue to the heart of Chicago’s Loop to admire the Rookery Building, which was completed in 1888 and considered the city’s first high-rise. While the entire building is considered a masterpiece of early skyscraper engineering, your group will want to spend time in the lobby, which Wright boldly updated with Persian-style ornamentation and a lighting scheme that utilizes the glass ceiling to brilliantly illuminate the space. While you’re in the Loop, browse the city’s famous stores and enjoy a traditional pot pie lunch in the Walnut Room at Macy’s on State Street. AFTERNOON/EVENING The Frederick C. Robie House, one of Wright’s most iconic buildings and a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is considered the crown jewel of the Prairie style. Located in the historic Hyde Park neighborhood and just outside the University of Chicago campus, the Robie House is available for touring throughout the year and showcases an architect at the peak of his powers. The structure peerlessly integrates Wright’s signatures like low-pitched roofs with overhanging eaves, detailed stained-glass windows, muted colors that evoke the Great Plains and heavy wood accents. Conclude your day with a no-frills meal at Valois Restaurant, a diner frequented by former President Barack Obama when he was a community organizer.

DAY 2: OAK PARK ILLINOIS HOME OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT

MORNING Located just outside the Chicago city limits and seven miles from the Loop, Oak Park is a charming village where Wright moved to with his family in 1889. He would become a fixture of the community for the next 20 years and design 25 Oak Park buildings while perfecting his Prairie style. The area now has the densest collection of Wright-designed structures in the world. Orient your group to the area with a tour of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, which Wright designed himself and contains his draft room and original sketches. The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust conducts several tours throughout the neighborhood within walking distance of the studio. AFTERNOON Enjoy lunch at one of the many restaurants on Lake Street before touring Unity Temple, a triumph of modern design and one of Wright’s favorite projects. After a fire severely damaged the local Unitarian church in 1905, he was commissioned to re-imagine the building on a tight budget and resorted to a concrete exterior because it was inexpensive. The material was rarely used in public buildings, and especially for places of worship, but the combination of necessity and inspiration resulted in an iconic building with striking columns and elevated windows that allow natural light to enter but deny worshipers an outside view. The interior is equally revolutionary in that it avoids any explicit religious iconography but instead aims for church unity by integrating vertical lines that suggest transcendence and intimate seating that keeps all worshipers close to the pulpit. Visitors to Oak Park will also want to stop by the Ernest Hemingway Birthplace Home, a well-maintained Victorian house where the famous author lived until he was six.

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