Framedlight

As I mentioned in my last blog, Wright had lost his job with Adler and Sullivan because he had been designing his 'bootleg' houses on the side, to earn himself some extra cash. After viewing his home and studio in Oak Park we had a short tour of the neighbourhood houses that he had created. The three 'bootleg' houses are within easy reach of Wright's studio, one being directly over the road from him. Robert P Parker House, 1892 Thomas Gale House, 1892 Walter Gale House, 1892 Walter Gale house in front, next to Thomas Gale House Walter Gale owned a hardware store in Chicago. Thomas Gale was a speculator and had his house and the Robert Parker house built by Wright. Thomas Gale sold the Parker House to Robert Parker, a lawyer,  a year later. All three houses look similar, with their large bays, This was a style favoured by Joseph Silsbee, Wright's first employer. Wright liked to be thought of as a 'man about town' and would be se...

In spite of now staying in central Chicago we travelled out to the Oak Park suburb where Frank Lloyd Wright, the innovative American architect, built his family home and studio. We naturally went on the 'L' train, giving me more photo opportunities, especially where the train seems to do an almost 90 degree turn around the buildings. You can only see the Frank Lloyd Wright house by guided tour. I had a 'photo' ticket which allowed me to take pictures after all the other tourists had left the particular room we had been in. Luckily there was only one other person with the same sort of ticket, otherwise I would have been no better off! Wright was born in Wisconsin in 1867. His mother Anna ordained that her son would build beautiful buildings and accordingly decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals. She also purchased a set of Froebel blocks, wooden blocks in geometrical shapes that can be used to make three dimensional compositions. ...