“In 1893, Frank Lloyd Wright founded his architectural practice in Oak Park, a quiet, semi-rural village on the Western edges of Chicago. It was at his Oak Park Studio during the first decade of the twentieth century that Wright pioneered a bold new approach to domestic architecture, the Prairie style. Inspired by the broad, flat landscape of America’s Midwest, the Prairie style was the first uniquely American architectural style of what has been called “the American Century.”

Frank Lloyd Wright is the father of American architecture and was an innovator like no other. He dared to think beyond the mortar, tested the limits of design, and the wills of his clients. A masterful architectural designer, Wright developed a unique vocabulary of space, form, and pattern that represented a dramatic shift in design from the traditional houses of the day. Characterized by dramatic horizontal lines and masses, the Prairie buildings that emerged in the first decade of the twentieth century evoke the expansive Midwestern landscape.

Wright described his organic, unified interiors, declaring:
“They are all mere structural details in its character and completeness, heating apparatus, light fixtures, the very chairs, tables, cabinets and musical instruments, where practicable, are of the building itself. Nothing of appliances or fixtures is admitted purely as such where circumstances permit the full development of the building scheme. Floor coverings and hangings are a part of the house as the plaster on the walls or the tiles on the roof.”

One can tour Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park home and studio, all you need is $17.00 and 5 bucks if you want to buy a photo pass. This was actually my third time visiting the Oak Park home (well my first trip with the boyfriend!) and let me tell you I discover something new every time I visit. Wright’s designs never grow old, instead they inspire me. As in I want to build a tiny home utilizing Wright’s expansion and contract concept. Are you lost, well my friend then you need to head on over to Oak Park and the nice tour guides will explain expansion and contract to you. The volunteer guides are the best, they love Wright’s work just as much as I do. It is always fun chatting with them and learning which properties are their favorites. Everyone has a favorite Wright building, mine happens to be Unity Temple which is located just a few blocks away from his Oak Park home.

If I could invite anyone to dinner I would choose Mr. Wright, he was a conversationalist and loved to entertain. I feel that our conversation would flow like the floor plans of the homes he designed.

****I was not compensated for this post*****