In 1911, Frank Lloyd Wright returned to the Midwest after traveling Europe with his mistress (and former client) Mamah Cheney. He was building a new life in Wisconsin with Cheney and at the same time remodeling the Home & Studio into apartments and living spaces for his wife Catherine and their children.
Ken Simpson, co-chair of research for Wright Plus and captain of house research for the Oscar and Nonie Balch House, said, “It was definitely a very tumultuous time for him.”
Nevertheless, Oscar Balch hired Wright to design his new home on Kenilworth Avenue, one of only three local Wright Commissions in 1911. Christine Trevino, Wright Trust communications manager, said, “It really speaks to Wright’s relationship with Balch that he had him design the house at this time.”
Balch and Wright had a previous working relationship. In 1906, Balch along with his partner Alonzo Pebbles, hired Wright to design their interior design and wallpaper shop, Pebbles & Balch at 1107 Lake St. in Oak Park.
That building has since been demolished, but Wright’s trademarks were found throughout the design. Clerestory windows are similar to the remodel of the Peter A. Beachy House remodel in 1906, and exterior light fixtures resembled those used on the gates of the Edward Waller estate in River Forest at Auvergne Place.
In the Balch home, many signatures of Wright’s Prairie Style can be seen, including massed stucco walls, a flat roof and dark wood trim. Fifteen original leaded glass windows remain, but none of them are on the front face of the house. The entry is tucked away from the street, and a Greek key motif is found on copper roof flashing that encircles the house.
Simpson said, “A lot of people have theorized that because he was in this kind of tumultuous period of his life, that he used concealing and screening elements more in this house.”
He points to the concealed front door, a veranda with a high wall that shields the house’s occupants from passersby as possible evidence of this.
Simpson reached out to the relatives of former owners to try to learn more about the house, and he has plenty of stories to share. One of the Balch sons was injured in a fire at his father’s shop and was treated by none other than Dr. Clarence Hemingway, who lived across the street from the Balch family.
The second owners of the home survived the San Francisco earthquake and fires of 1906. Their grandson was in possession of their old steamer trunk. When he was able to open it, he shared with Simpson photos of their Oak Park house as well as their written memories of surviving the earthquake.
Subsequent owners include Dr. William and Mary Jacobs, who had 11 children in the home, and Oak Park’s first village manager Mark Keane and his family.
Tim and Charlene Pearson owned the home from 1999 to 2016 and restored much of the house. The couple built a large addition with a modernized kitchen and family room, but Simpson notes that the front portion of the first floor remains relatively unchanged, including a large open living and dining room.
The Pearsons deeded two original leaded glass light fixtures on the “library” side of the great room to the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy in order to try to keep them preserved within the house.
After the Pearsons sold the home, the next owner made the home more sustainable, adding geothermal heating, custom interior storm windows, a new roof and new insulation.
The current owners have put their stamp on the house, remodeling the kitchen and converting a bedroom to a primary suite bathroom.
Trevino said, “I think people will be really excited to see what updates have been done to the home.”