John Ronan FAIA is an architect, writer, and educator based in Chicago and Founding Principal of John Ronan Architects (JRA) where he serves as Lead Designer. John holds a Master of Architecture degree with distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Michigan. His work has been exhibited internationally and covered extensively by the international design press. He has lectured widely and there are three publications on his firm’s work. His writings have appeared in books, journals and Poetry magazine. His firm has…
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Date: 1891-1892
Address: 4575 South Lake Park Avenue, Chicago, IL
City: Chicago, IL
Category: Residential
Links: Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, fragment collection
Restoration Status: Demolished in 1970. Fragments of the façade are now housed in the Louis Sullivan architectural fragment collection at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville.
Originally designed for Louis Sullivan’s mother, the building was completed around the time of her death. Sullivan lived at the house from 1892 until his brother,…
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Date: 1895
Address: 334 North Kenilworth Avenue, Oak Park IL
City: Oak Park, IL
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Built in the 1870s, the Harrison P. Young house was designed by William E. Coman. Wright’s modifications, carried out in 1895, entailed moving the structure 16 ½ feet back on its lot, the addition of a wide porch, and a reconfiguration of the house’s interior spaces. The porch’s narrow clapboard siding emphasizes the horizontality of the addition, as does the gentle slope of the cantilevered roof that…
Drawn to the region by prosperous clients, the nation’s most progressive architects and designers, including H. H. Richardson, Louis Sullivan, Daniel Burnham, and Frank Lloyd Wright helped shape a grand vision for this modern American city.
Meet The Architect: John Ronan FAIA
Meet the architect of the Trust’s new Learning Center, John Ronan FAIA, who will share his design for the project following the Annual Meeting portion of the evening.
John Ronan FAIA is an architect, writer, and educator based in Chicago and Founding Principal of John Ronan Architects where he serves as Lead Designer and is known for his abstract yet sensuous work exploring materiality and atmosphere. John holds a Master of Architecture degree with distinction from the Harvard University Graduate School of Design and a Bachelor of Science degree…
A Preservation Conversation with Doug Freerksen
Doug Freerksen is a founding partner and president of Von Dreele – Freerksen Construction Company, a well-known contractor in Oak Park. Freerksen has personally been involved in the restoration of vintage homes for over fifty years, contributing to and managing dozens of restoration projects, among them 30 structures by Frank Lloyd Wright. Following his presentation, he will take questions from members in attendance.
Dress code: Business or business casual; no denim.
Cash bar is available in the room at 5 pm before the 5:30 pm Annual…
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2022 Annual Report
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2021 Annual Report
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2020 Annual Report
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2019 Annual Report
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2018 Annual Report
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2017 Annual Report
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Date: 1895
Address: 2840-2858 W Walnut Street, Chicago, IL
City: Chicago, IL
Accessibility: private
Category: residential, multi-family residential units
Constructed for Edward C. Waller shortly after the neighboring Francisco Terrace Apartments were built, this suite of five adjoining buildings was designed as low-cost housing. Each building contained four one-bedroom rental properties with interiors similar to those found at the Francisco Terrace Apartments. A horizontal band of vertically oriented brickwork spanned the…
Following is a list of links to national repositories with significant holdings of Frank Lloyd Wright collections, architectural drawings, reference materials, and manuscripts collections. The descriptions of the individual holdings of each of these repositories are not meant to be exhaustive, and for more detailed information of collections and holdings the repository should be contacted directly.
Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library
The Avery Library at Columbia University is the repository of the most comprehensive archival collection of the work of Frank Lloyd Wright, including 23,…
Job Type: Part-time, 22 hours per week
Salary: $30.00 - $34.00 per hour
Work Summary:
The Archivist & Collections Manager is responsible for the management, access to, and professional care of the Trust’s archives including its documents and design collections and organization history records as well as organization of physical storage and database inventory. The Archivist & Collections Manager implements and upholds archival policies and procedures, documents and accessions new acquisitions, and supports reading room management.
Duties:
Responsible for archival management and…
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Date: 1902
Address: 318 Forest Avenue, Oak Park IL
City: Oak Park, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Solid and monolithic, the Heurtley house is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s greatest residential designs. Located a short distance from Wright’s own Home and Studio in Oak Park, the house was commissioned by banker Arthur Heurtley and his wife Grace. While the rectangular form and monumental massing of the building evokes Wright’s earlier Winslow house of 1893, the design reflects the remarkable evolution of Wright…
Date: 1902
City: “Les Cheneaux”, Marquette Island, Michigan
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
The renovation of the Arthur and Grace Heurtley Summer Cottage was commissioned concurrently with the client’s residence in Oak Park. Wright expanded the main-floor bedrooms and reconfigured the basement of the cottage to include a dining room, kitchen, storage, and servant’s quarters. The architect also designed a large stone fireplace for the dining room and added structural steel beams to support the main floor.
Back to The Buildings of Wright's Chicago Years
Date: 1905
Address: 3459 South Shore Drive, Delavan, Wisconsin 53115
City: Lake Delavan, Delavan, Wisconsin
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Like many of Wright’s lakeside residences, the Arthur P. Johnson house was designed with the scenic Lake Delavan waterfront in mind. Bands of leaded glass windows extend to the corners of the second story bedrooms of the house, while a large plate glass window in the vast first floor living room looks directly onto the water. A porch surrounds the living room on three of its sides and diagonal piers like those found at the…
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Date: 1888
Address: 50 E Congress Pkwy, Chicago, IL 60605
City: Chicago, IL
Accessibility: Public
Category: Theater, office building, hotel
Links: http://www.auditoriumtheatre.org/
In 1888, Wright secured a position with the prestigious architectural firm of Adler and Sullivan. The partnership produced many of Chicago’s earliest tall buildings and large commercial structures. Impressed by Wright’s superior drawing skills, Louis Sullivan hired the young architect to produce ornamental designs for the interior of the Chicago…
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Date: 1907
Address: 290 and 300 Scottswood Rd., 281 Bloomingbank Rd., and 336 Coonley St., Riverside, Illinois
City: Riverside, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
The Coonley estate, a sprawling complex in Riverside, Illinois, is one of Wright’s most impressive residential achievements. Avery Coonley, a wealthy Chicago industrialist, and his wife, Queene Ferry, granted Wright tremendous creative freedom to design a residence that he ultimately deemed “the most successful of my houses.” The…
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Date: 1911
Address: 281 Bloomingbank Road, Riverside, IL 60546
City: Riverside, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Utilitarian
Wright designed a vast estate for Avery and Queene Ferry Coonley in 1907 and modified the adjacent stable building four years later. Wright enlarged the building and converted it into a garage that accommodated two cars.
Back to The Buildings of Wright's Chicago Years
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Date: 1900
Address: 701 S. Harrison Avenue, Kankakee, Illinois 60901
City: Kankakee, Illinois
Category: Residential
Links: https://wright1900.org
Accessibility: Public
Restoration status: From 2005 to 2010, the house was restored to its 1901 appearance. It is now operated by Wright in Kankakee as a public museum
Wright’s design for the B. Harley Bradley house expands upon the architectural vocabulary he had begun to explore in the Husser house, and which eventually came to define his mature Prairie…
“Study Nature, love nature, stay close to nature. It will never fail you.” - Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright used nature as a constant inspiration throughout his career. His buildings coexisted harmoniously with the world surrounding them, and he often looked to nature to mimic its forms and functions. Though Wright’s career took place before the word “biomimicry” existed, Wright’s innovative concept of “organic design” is closely related to our idea of “biomimicry” today. In this Teaching by Design session, educators will learn how to guide their students to draw inspiration from…