Enjoy curator-led tours, fresh California cuisine and exclusive tours of houses that are not open to the public. Highlights include in-depth tours of Wright’s Hollyhock House and Greene and Greene’s Gamble House, as well as a tour of the American decorative arts collection at the Huntington Museum and Library.
The mission of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust is to engage, educate, and inspire the public through interpretation of Frank Lloyd Wright’s design legacy and preservation of his sites for future generations. We believe that our mission is most effectively fulfilled through a commitment to inclusiveness as a core value and practice. We are proud to be an equal opportunity employer that does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, marital status, veteran status or disability. Furthermore, we seek to build awareness and…
On September 1, 1923, Wright’s Imperial Hotel opened in Tokyo. This year, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust partnered with Imperial Hotel, Ltd. for a celebration at Robie House. The 100-year celebration was marked by a gift of cherry blossom trees from the Imperial Hotel, Ltd. for the Robie courtyard garden.
Guests gathered to commemorate Frank Lloyd Wright’s legacy in Japan and the United States. Hideya Sadayasu, President of the Imperial Hotel, Ltd. travelled to Chicago for the occasion. Guests included the Consul-General of Japan in Chicago, Bureau Chief of America from Japan Broadcasting…
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Date: 1905
Address: 2420 Harrison Street, Evanston IL
City: Evanston, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
The Charles A. Brown house features a simple, square-shaped plan, clapboard siding, and sash windows—some of the last to appear in Wright’s work. A wide veranda at the front of the house displays a vast cantilevered roof that interrupts the box-like structure of the residence and opens the house to its surrounding environment.
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Date: 1896
Address: 321 North Euclid Avenue, Oak Park, IL
City: Oak Park, IL
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
The Chicago architectural firm of Burnham and Root designed the Charles E. Roberts house in 1879, and Wright remodeled the residence in 1896. The commission foreshadows Wright’s 1905 renovation of Burnham and Root’s iconic Rookery building in downtown Chicago.
On the interior, Wright added a first floor bedroom, an ornamental fireplace screen in the living room, and new interior trim. He also redesigned the…
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Date: 1902
Address: 3211 South Shore Drive, Delavan WI
City: Delavan, Wisconsin
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Around the turn of the century, wealthy families from Chicago flocked to scenic destinations in Wisconsin for summer vacation. Wright designed a handful of lakeside cottages during this time, the Charles Ross summerhouse among them. Although it has been painted and altered in recent years, the house retains many of the characteristics that are shared by other of Wright’s nearby cottages, including…
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Date: 1895
Address: 530 North Edgewood Place, River Forest, IL
City: River Forest, IL
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Restoration Status: Dormers modified after 1900, enclosed porch added
The Chauncey Williams house has an exaggerated, steeply pitched roof with a wide overhang that projects like a tent over a shallow base. The verticality of the roof is countered by the longitudinal elements that make up the structure’s first floor, where a water table runs around the periphery of the building, subdividing…
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Date: 1911
City: Glencoe, Illinois
Category: Utilitarian
Restoration Status: Demolished in the mid-1950s
Beginning in 1911, and working under commission from attorney Sherman Booth, Wright developed a scheme for a suburban community in Glencoe, Illinois. The project entailed the creation of both residential and public structures in a cohesive design vocabulary. Wright conceived of an ambitious plan for the growing community, involving the creation of a town hall, art gallery, residences, and…
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Date: 1909
Address: 7 W State St, Mason City, IA 50401
City: Mason City, Iowa
Accessibility: Public
Category: Commerical
Restoration Status: Bank remodeled in 1980s and hotel renovated in 2005-6
Located in Mason City, Iowa, the City National Bank and Hotel was commissioned by lawyers James E. Blythe and James E. E. Markley, who became acquainted with Wright’s work after Markley sent his children to the Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wisconsin. The structure served a variety of functions—…
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Date: 1905
Address: 122 W Main Street, Dwight, Illinois, 60420
City: Dwight, Illinois
Links: www.fnbofdwight.com
Accessibility: Public, operates as a bank
Category: Commercial
Wright designed this one-story commercial structure for Colonel Frank Smith of the Dwight Bank with the aim of achieving an overall effect of “distinguished simplicity.” Wright’s original plans were decidedly more elaborate than those that were realized. The building is characterized by a sophisticated play of textures and materials. The…
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Date: 1907
Address: 1511 South Batavia Avenue, Geneva, Illinois
City: Geneva, Illinois
Accessibility: Public
Category: Residential
Links: Preservation Partners of the Fox Valley
Wright was commissioned to renovate the Geneva, Illinois home of Colonel George Fabyan and his wife, Nelle, after designing the nearby Hoyt and Gridley houses. Fabyan, an eccentric textile manufacturer and dealer, retired to this vast country estate where he entertained guests and pursued research into an idiosyncratic range of subjects, including…
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Date: 1909
City: University Heights, Darby, Montana
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Restoration status: Mostly demolished between 1930-45
Wright earned the commission for the Como Orchards Summer Colony after designing a vacation home for Frederick Nichols in 1906. Nichols worked for the Bitter Root Valley Irrigation Company, an agricultural business that sought to expand the distribution of water to farmland in rural Darby, Montana. After the arrival of the Great Northern Railroad, which connected…
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Date: 1909
City: Peoria, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Utilitarian
In 1904, two years after its completion, Cora and Robert Clarke purchased Wright’s Francis W. and Mary Little house. The Clarkes commissioned Wright to revise the design of the stable, and he converted part of its second story to an apartment with two bedrooms, a bathroom, and kitchen. Wright also expanded the ground floor and added additional stalls for horses.
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Date: 1905 (revised 1908)
Address: 125 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14214
City: Buffalo, New York
Links: www.darwinmartinhouse.org
Accessibility: Public
Category: Residential
Wright designed a gardener’s cottage for Darwin Martin’s residential complex—a series of buildings that included Martin’s house; a connecting pergola, conservatory, and carriage house; and the Barton house, a smaller structure designed for Martin’s sister—in 1905. Wright and several…
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Date: 1903
Address: 125 Jewett Parkway, Buffalo, NY 14214
City: Buffalo, New York
Links: www.darwinmartinhouse.org
Accessibility: Public
Category: Residential
Restoration status: Pergola, stable, and garage demolished in 1960, reconstructed between 2004 and 2007
The Darwin Martin house stands as one of the largest and most significant commissions of Wright’s Chicago years. Like the Susan Lawrence Dana house, it serves as a bold expression of Wright’s…
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Date: 1902
City: Lake Delavan, Delavan, Wisconsin
Accessibility: Private
Category: Recreational
Restoration status: Demolished
Wright’s design for the Delavan Lake Yacht Club departs dramatically from his earlier scheme for the Mendota boathouse, which also served as a recreational facility. While the Mendota boathouse referenced the Beaux-…
Oak Park and River Forest, Illinois are two vibrant suburban communities to the west of Chicago. Historically and architecturally renowned, the villages’ proximity to the city has made the area a premier destination for visitors from all over the world.
Frank Lloyd Wright spent the first 20 years of his life and career in the area, which is home to the largest collection of his buildings and attracts thousands of guests annually. Several other local luminaries called Oak Park River Forest home over the years, including writer Ernest Hemingway, chemist Percy Julian, novelist Edgar Rice…