Frank Lloyd Wright was an exceptional architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 projects, which resulted in more than 500 completed works. Many of these completed works are located in our Chicago Area.
Wright was ahead of his time promoting 'organic architecture' (promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world), was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture of which we are all familiar. His work included original and innovative examples of many different building types, including offices, churches, schools, skyscrapers, hotels, and museums. Wright also often designed many of the interior elements of his buildings, such as the furniture and stained glass.
So what if anything of 'Mr. FLW' is on the market now? Plenty! So I thought I would show you just a few samplings right here in our own backyard!
Riverside IL $2,890,000
Avery Coonley House, 5BR 5BA, 3 Fireplaces, 6000 square feet, Reflecting PoolBuilt 1908-1912 Tour
Oak Park IL $1,295,000
W.E. Martin House, 5BR 3.5BA, 3 Fireplaces, 4336 square feet, Koi Pond
Built 1903 Tour
Oak Park IL $1,795,000
5BR 5.5BA, 4 Fireplaces, 5183 square feet
Built 1915
Batavia IL $1,450,000
5BR 3.3BA, 3 Fireplaces, 5100 square feet
Highland Park IL $1,399,000
Millard House, 4BR 2.5BA, 2 Fireplaces, 3013 square feet
Built 1906 Tour
Riverside IL $1,299,000
3BR 3.5BA, 3028 square feet
Built 1909
Glencoe IL $550,000
3BR 1.5BA, Fireplace, 1719 square feet (As is, fixer upper)
Built 1915
Frank Lloyd Wright
thruout Oak Park IL
All things Wright
on the Web
Frank Lloyd Wright
Home & Studio, Oak Park IL
Prairie
School Architecture
Admittedly
Unusual Homes Series -
Step right up and get your Castle
right here!
Frances J. Dewes
Mansion - Chicago IL
Lynnewood Hall
- Elkins Park, PA
Mudhouse Mansion
- Lancaster, OH
Is that the White House
in the MLS?
Poor Kevin's
House! Home Alone
Bowling in your Basement
- Hinsdale, IL
Nate Berkus
sells his condo - Chicago, IL
Foreclosure Sales
over the 1M mark - yikes!
I'm a huge fan of FLW. A friend of my parents owned one of his homes in Oak Park that I visited a few times growing up. You are lucky to have so many terrific examples close by.
Cindy: We really are & the whole Prairie Movement started here. Oak Park has a great site dedicated to a walking tour also for those that are interested. Some of these homes are just huge also! I love the character!
Lyn, this is one of my favorite things about the Chicagoland area. We have a few FLW projects our way, but not to the level you have in Illinois. Always ahead of his time (and quite a character).
Lyn...in college, we studied FLW--his concepts, designs and finished projects [through photos, movies & slides only] When I returned to the Michigan area--i was told that we had some FLW-type homes here, too. Saw two such & they did resemble the style, but were much smaller in scale. Never did discover IF he actually built these "mini-homes" or if they were meant as tributes-to-his-designs.
Fantastic homes that are pictured here. wishes for some solid closings.
Have a great Memorial Day Weekend
Barb
Barb: Well there is your 'basic' Usonian House as it was called. A house for everyone across the country! Your 3BR ranch style house affordable to all. Supposedly they were built but I'm not sure where.
David: Indeed. In some of these homes the furniture is part of the room as it all flows together. Everything blends.
Hello Lyn and VB is a fan and those are some very beautiful homes, and your post has been featured at one of my favorite groups at AR ...
Activerain PROPERTY LISTINGS
Thanks VB!
I am a big fan of FLW, too. His designs are timeless. clean and simple. Love that and Stickley furniture. Thanks for the great tour!
Lyn, beautiful homes! I love Mr. FLW. You are so lucky! Hope you sell one! :)
Wish I had some of FLW homes here. Very nice places, thanks for sharing. Was it hard to search for them?
Lyn:
What beautiful homes Wright built. You are lucky to have so many of his homes in your area. Do the homes have any historical status, so their facades can not be changed.
Lyn, I was an architect in my past life, so of course FLW is big in my book, as well as Louis Sullivan. In addition to their architecture, the design elements that were also involved on accessory items are beautiful. FLW, stained glass designs, perfect! Louis Sullivan, well I have still some exquisite wallpaper modeled after his elevator panels. I lived in both Milwaukee and Chicago, so yeah, I've seen many of his homes as well as Taliesin in Spring Green.
I would sell a kidney to live in any of those houses!
Dear Lyn -
Please ask Rosalie to keep her kidney!
Anyway - I love the Prarie style. When it is cohesive -
Have a happy day -
Lynn
i
Hi Lyn, if I ever go to Chicago it would be great to see a tour of some the homes FLW designed in Oak Park. FLW had a very intersting life.
Magnificent sample of properties. . what a talent!
Hi Lyn. We have a few here in Madison Wisconsin but not any on the scale that you have for sale there. Thanks
I'm surprised to see this many Wright homes on the market. Thanks for putting this together.
Lovely homes! We have a smaller example in Kennebunkport, Maine.
I particularly like the Frank Lloyd Wright designs, however, there are relatively few of the in the Toronto area.
They were popular for custom built homes in the 1960's.
Great post. I did not realize that there were so many FLW homes on the market!
Lyn, his homes and buildings were all an architectural feat. I'm surprised people are selling them.
Suzanne: Thanks for checking it out. I was amazing to find so many of these great homes on the market now.
Pamela: I hope so too!
John: No it wasn't hard to search for them at all. I used the remarks section to pull them up but then I had to figure out which were the REAL thing! Many from his proteges & others inspired that I had to sort thru. In fact, there is another one that was left off the list because I just couldn't find that one was built in that town west of all the others.
Evelyn: Yes, they are registered if the owners choose to.
John: That's great. Sullivan had all that great ornate brass work on all these great buildings here. I am a fan of that also.
Rosalie: No kidneys! Lynn says no also.
Lynn: Like everything else, it's a tough style to incorporate into today. If you don't care for wood, it's not for you.
Eva: Oak Park is known for the tours so be sure to check them out if you are in the area.
Fernando: Thanks.
Tim: Not that far for you to visit! Great photo BTW.
Cheryl: It's actually surprising that it's that wide open with the vaulted ceilings for that time. There is not alot of clutter either.
Alan: Surprising wasn't it. I was investigating something else & realized there are quite a few on the market now so I thought I'd showcase them. There are many others newer that I am going to showcase also.
Nancy: It's that where all the Kennedy's hang out? I'm surprised FLW didn't build one for them somewhere.
Michael: The one fixer-upper seems to be to large to maintain for the current owner. I'm sure they are higher maintenance trying to keep the style true to original. I'm sure there is some idiot somewhere that tried to put aluminum siding on one of these! Argggg.
Frank and his apprentices really did put out quite a body of work. I visited Talesin West in January then later read the book written about the 'fellowship" that was pretty eye-opening.
Stunning....something I should really check out
@Alan...I agree I was only expecting maybe 1 or 2, this is certainly impressive
Love his designs, and your sampling of them. Thanks for sharing.
Lizette: Sounds interesting. You aren't the first one to mention to me that he had an unusual life.
Patrick: I was also very surprised as I kept stumbling upon these homes looking for something else entirely. Thought I would put a compilation together as a post. It's amazing architecture readily available in our area that should be showed off!
Michele: I love the stained glass windows that match the furniture & rugs in these places too.
Lyn - Wow that's preety cool. Bob's grandfather was a builder here in NJ many years back and he had built a home in Hillsdale that was kind of a FLW tribute house. I wish I had a picture of it to share with you all. I'll have to go get one as it still stands today and looks very similar in style to these but of course without the flair of FLW.
Lyn,
I'm a fan of FLW's architectural style, and there's much of it here in Arizona. I wonder what's on the market here that he designed?
Mike in Tucson
Very interesting situation for you. I've seen one of his homes in Manchester, NH. It's unusual but I did like it.
Good luck with these, it won't appeal to everyone that's for sure.
Patricia/Seacoast NH & ME
It is amazing to see how his style is standing the test of time...he was a big influence at Arizona State U.
What a treat! Thanks Lyn.
I'm a total FLW fan. I saw his home in Scottsdale a few years ago. Very cool and before his time.
Thank you!
Excellent Post! Lyn, I'm so glad you chose to blog about this. I never think of FLW's works as being just "available" for someone to buy.
Mike: There would have to be some association/foundation there that would know. That's how the one operates here mainly out of Oak Park. They know across the planet which ones are FLW or one of his affiliates.
Allan: I agree.
Lisa & Bob: That is so great. I was surprised to see that there are plans for most of his designs right on the internet. There are also some that are not officially FLW's but a tribute shall we say that are just fabulous also. I was going to do a followup post on those. Some are knock your socks off great.
Cory: Classic influences in buildings, churchs, etc. also. He did more of those than homes.
Patricia: For those that choose to have 'the originals'.
There is a Frank Lloyd Wriight home about 4 doors down from my office in West Palm Beach,Florida
about a block from the ocean.
Very cool. I lived in Chicago for a couple of years, and I love his work. We used to have a lot of meetings in the Robie House.
there are a couple of home here I've worked on that look like his/designed in his style. They are very cool.
That is great Lynn. Are all of those listings yours? I'd bet there''s a good niche market in FLW homes.
A beatuful post, and the homes presented are gorgeous. I'm a FLW fan . . . we don't have (m)any here. Rummer and Eichler are the classic modernists in the area. His birthday is June 8th -- timely post!!
Some very nice architectural design work, thanks for posting!
Obviously, this homes demand top dollar. Very nice showcase.
Very cool! I just toured falling water for the 1st time a few months ago> I think one of the homes in LA is in distress or possibly for sale too.
Lyn,
Not familiar with your market, I'm wondering how much (if any) of a "premium" the sellers are asking because it is a FLW house.
Lyn,
His architecture was ahead of his time. I have been in a couple of his houses too. They are pretty amazing!
Patricia
Great blog, I love Frank Lloyd Wright! Very interesting, thanks for sharing!
Irene: Not sure as I'm not that familiar with all these different areas but I'm sure there is a historical premium. 'I've got an original', type of thing.
Evan: Cool place.
James: Didn't know he did things out there in WPB.
With homes like this you have the best job ever, what a perk to have at work :-)