The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust kicked off its “Legacy Year” with an All Wright housewalk on May 17, showcasing Wright’s many and varied local designs. It also marked the 125th anniversary of the Home & Studio’s completion.
But there is more to celebrate. June 17 is the 40th anniversary of the Home & Studio’s incorporation as a non-profit with the state of Illinois. And July 17 was the first day the Home & Studio opened for tours.
This year, the number 17 is wild.Â
The Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio Foundation, later the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust and today the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust, was officially formed on June 17, 1974. On June 17, 2014 the Trust will celebrate the dedication and achievements of many of the original founding group who helped make the Home & Studio and the Trust what they are today.
Early days
In the late 1960s, Oak Park was fueled by social activism as villagers responded to red-lining and racism in the housing market. Intense community involvement and awareness also spurred an interest in the area’s historic housing stock, and in 1969, the village commissioned the Hasbrouck Sprague plan, which identified 264 historically significant homes in the village. Wright’s Unity Temple, already a draw for tourists, became Oak Park’s first National Historic Landmark in 1971, and interest in Wright’s others designs was growing.
Fresh out of graduate school at the time, Chicago architect John Thorpe remembers the time well.Â
“The Historical Society was one of the new groups formed in the late-60s and early-70s, as was the Landmarks Commission, all in reaction to red-lining,” Thorpe recalled. “The Home & Studio Foundation grew up out of the Historical Society and Landmarks group. Our core group came out of there.”
Thorpe said he was one of the few original members who did not live in Oak Park. His interest was driven by an appreciation of Wright’s work, but he soon learned that Wright was inextricably intertwined with Oak Park itself.
“I was volunteering with the Glessner House in Chicago,” he said, “and I started a walking tour of Oak Park for the Chicago Architecture Foundation in 1971. I met Mrs. Nooker, the owner of the Home & Studio because we always ended the tour at her house. We asked her every week if we could get in, and I always told the people on my tour to treat her nicely, or she could refuse.”
Sale
According to Thorpe, Nooker had lived in the home for about 30 years, trying to keep it up, but after she was widowed, her enthusiasm for improving the building waned, and she decided to sell the home. In June of 1972, she listed the house with Arthur Rubloff for $400,000. The Historical Society of Oak Park-River Forest and the Landmarks Commission of Oak Park were interested in purchasing the home, and members of both groups combined to form a committee focused on the purchase of the Home & Studio. Member Dawn Goshorn Schumann (later the founding president) traveled to Washington D.C. to meet with the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) regarding the home.
From 1972 to 1974, with the aid of various federal preservation groups and the backing of local banks and development groups, the Committee to Purchase the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio made several offers on the home, ranging from $125,000 to $150,000. All were turned down.
Thorpe saw his role as a go-between for Nooker and the group, and worked to make their interests align.Â
“I became a contact for her with the group,” he said. “She knew the house was really, really important, and she wanted the federal government to buy it. I explained to her that the National Trust was part of the federal government. She trusted me and knew I was telling her the truth about what would be done to preserve the house.”
In 1974, Nooker approached Art Replogle with the Oak Park Development Corporation, and a purchase price of $168,000 was agreed upon. Jerry Mackey of Avenue State Bank Trust of Oak Park helped the group obtain financing as they organized, and in June of 1974, The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation officially became a 501(c)3 organization.
Getting to work
Once the purchase was complete, the newly foundation set to work fundraising to pay for the purchase. Thorpe recalls that the committee immediately formed smaller, more focused groups.Â
“We had an education committee, a tour operation, a bookshop and a restoration committee,” he recalled. “We had no furniture and no staff, but we recruited and trained volunteers, and we had the wonderful building itself.”
In 1977, four board-member architects, Thorpe, Bill Dring, Carl Hunter and Don Kalec developed a master plan as a guide to restoring the Home and Studio, and the book was used by the National Trust as a model for other restoration programs across the country.Â
According to Thorpe, “The Home and Studio was one of the first comprehensive restoration projects in the country, so we became sort of a guide for those who came after us. With the restoration, we chose to focus on the year 1909 since that was the date Wright left the Home & Studio. That was our target date for the restoration efforts.”
A reunion
Thorpe hopes that the June 17 Founders Day celebration will be a time to savor the achievements of the past. “About 72 of the original 112 members are still alive, and 50 of us are still in touch. I’m hopeful that 40 will make it here.”
Though 40 years have passed, to Thorpe it doesn’t seem like that long ago.Â
“Even though we were relatively young, we did what we had to do to save the Home & Studio. Those of us who lived through it remember it like it was yesterday. It was a world-class experience.”
