Taylor B 5
28 Jul 2021
Once you have visited Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater in Mill Run, Pennsylvania, all other architectural buildings from the 20th century are so much silly-putty. Except for Robie House in Chicago. Located at 5757 South Woodlawn in the Hyde Park neighborhood, on the University of Chicago campus, it was designed as a single family home by architect Frank Lloyd Wright and is renowned as the greatest example of Prairie School, the first architectural style considered uniquely American. In 1991, it was recognized by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 10 most significant structures of the 20th century. Today, it stands as an important part of America's cultural heritage, a powerful declaration of Frank Lloyd Wright's uncompromising vision for a new American architecture. The 9,062-square-foot structure was built in 1909 for Frederick C. Robie, who was only 28 years old and an assistant manager of his father's company. Robie, his wife and two children moved into the house in May 1910. His tenure in the house was short lived. Due to financial problems, Robie was forced to sell the house after living in it for only 14 months. The final cost of the house was $58,500. Today, it is worth nearly $2 million. After going through several owners and threats of demolition, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust assumed ownership of the house in 1977. In 2002, it began restoration to its original appearance in 1910. With the Robie House, Wright established a new form of domestic design with the bold interplay of horizontal planes about the chimney mass and the structurally expressive pieces and windows. The house contains four fireplaces, a billiards room, playroom, living room, 174 art glass panels in 29 different designs and a main stairway from the entrance hall to the second floor. The projecting cantilevered roof eaves, continuous bands of art/glass windows and use of Roman brick to emphasize the horizontal are trademarks of Wright's design techniques. In his plan, the house is designed as two large rectangles that seem to slide by one another. The first floor contains a billiards room, children's playroom, boiler room, laundry room, workshop and three-car garage. The second floor contains an entry hall, living room, dining room, guest bedroom, kitchen, two bedrooms, full bath and butler's pantry. The third floor contains a master bedroom, dressing area, full bath, small closet, balcony facing south and west, two bedrooms and a full bath. The Robie House was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1963, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1966, declared a Chicago Landmark in 1971, recognized as "one of 10 buildings that changed America" in 2013 and named a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2019. It is located in a neighborhood with Rockefeller Chapel, Oriental Institute, Midway Plaisance and Chicago Theological Seminary. A 1957 article in House & Home magazine stated: "By any standard the Robie House was the House of the 1900s--indeed the House of the Century."
