The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust’s fundraiser, Wright Plus Housewalk, always draws a sellout crowd and provides unrivalled historical research into architecturally significant homes. This year’s event, set for Saturday, June 2, features rare glimpses into private homes to interested locals as well as participants from around the world.
“This is the preservation trust’s largest fundraiser each year, and it’s great that after 38 years, we continue to sell so many tickets and draw so many return visitors to the walk,” says Angela Whitaker, Wright Plus coordinator for the preservation trust. “Not only does the walk cover our mission but it’s also such a great opportunity for people to see these architecturally significant private homes. These homes are not open to the public or tours at other times.”
This year’s walk features nine private homes, three designed by Wright. It also includes admission to three public buildings designed by Wright in the Unity Temple, Robie House and Wright’s Home and Studio, all National Historic Landmarks.
Whitaker notes that the walk, which began as a way to highlight Frank Lloyd Wright’s work in the Oak Park area, has evolved over the years.
“What the ‘Plus’ in the title refers to is that you are also getting to see the works of Frank Lloyd Wright’s contemporaries,” she says. “These architects worked and lived in Oak Park at the same time Wright did, so it is fascinating to see their different perspectives.”
A new house this year is the Dr. Howard L. Simmons House, built in 1898. As is the case with all of the homes featured on the walk, volunteers for the preservation trust conducted extensive research on the house.
“The people who conduct our research for us love the history and are so invested in it. With the Simmons house, the researchers actually discovered quite a bit,” says Whitaker. “The home was originally called the Price House and did not have an architect assigned to it. The researchers were able to study some very faded blueprints of the home and found stamps and information allowing them to attribute [it] to E.E. Roberts and officially date it to 1898, while also determining that Simmons was the first owner.”
The Simmons House is classified as a transitional Queen Anne Style home. The current owners have made changes in a manner that is sympathetic to its past. With three full floors open on the tour, the house showcases new additions such as an enclosed porch and garage alongside features such as period art glass.
“You can really see the possibilities in an older house,” Whitaker notes. “Every possible corner has been redone or finished beautifully, to create a lot of conscientiously designed living space in an older home.”
Another E.E. Roberts home on the tour, the 1908 Charles Schwerin House, showcases the architect’s movement into the Prairie Style. In contrast to the Simmons house, the Schwerin House is a time capsule of the Arts & Crafts Movement with the current owner furnishing the home with period pieces and carefully restoring woodwork and fixtures back to the original style.
The home is next door to the Lorenzen House, which has been featured on Wright Plus in the past, and the connection of the two is apparent. The Lorenzen family manufactured fireplace surround tiles, and they used the Schwerin House as a showcase home to show clients their work. These original tiles have been carefully maintained. The home also features over 50 art glass panels in various patterns.
One of the Wright Homes on this year’s walk, the William G. Fricke House, was designed in 1901 by Wright and Webster Tomlinson. An early, rare example of a three-story Prairie Home, the Fricke House stands out as comfortably livable.
“People think of Wright houses as hard to live in with low ceilings and small rooms. This house breaks that stereotype,” says Whitaker. “It is a very expansive and open home with large rooms that are perfect for family living.”
The significant art glass throughout the home offers clues to Wright’s design skills. In the three-bayed breakfast nook, a rosy pink hue shines through the glass when the sun rises, evidence of Wright’s deliberate efforts to connect the indoors and outdoors.
This year Wright Plus also has a little something extra for ticket holders. The one-and-only doghouse designed by Wright for client Jim Berger’s son, along with the original sketches and letters exchanged between Wright and Berger, will be featured in the Home and Studio courtyard during the event. Guests can also meet film director Michael Miner to learn about his most recent project, Romanza, a documentary dedicated to Wright’s California buildings, including the Berger dog house.
The Unity Temple Restoration Foundation will present two showings of Romanza at Unity Temple on Friday, June 1 (5 pm and 7:30 p.m.). Wright Plus ticket holders receive discounted admission.