Frank Lloyd Wright

In the beginning of August, we went on our first sightseeing trip in Chicago. We decided to visit a suburb near ours called Oak Park. It where the famous Prairie style architect Frank Lloyd Wright's lived and worked. We arrived at his home and bought tickets to tour the inside of his home and studio. While we waited for our tour, we went on a walking field trip around his neighborhood. He designed many of his neighbor's homes and so there were a lot of great examples of his Queen Anne and Prairie style homes. As we were walking, it was easy to spot which ones were his. He had such a unique style. The neighborhood was absolutely beautiful with tree lined streets and gorgeous homes.

When it was our turn to tour the home, we learned a lot about his architecture style and his personal life. The most unique thing I learned was that when you commissioned Mr. Wright to design a home for you, he would not only design the outside of the home, but he would design the furniture, the decorations, and even the dress of the family. They said, if he visited your home two years later and the furniture he had designed had been moved, he would move it back into its appropriate place. He was a perfectionist, and when he designed for you he designed not just a building, but a lifestyle and he expected you to uphold it. It was interesting. We were unable to take pictures inside the home, but it was fascinating because he used his home as an experiment for many of his future designs. We want to visit his Robie House which is a great example of the Prairie style home, it is located on the University of Chicago campus and so we hope to visit it before we leave.