(Editor’s note: Lacey Sikora is the Journal’s real estate reporter. She and her husband are the new owners of the Gustav and Ethel Babson II House. It is one of the houses on this year’s Wright house walk.)
The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust’s annual house walk, Wright Plus, is returning to the western suburbs on May 16. This year, 8 private homes will be open to ticket holders, as well as Wright’s Home & Studio and Unity Temple.
This year’s Wright Plus is entirely Oak Park-based, and the homes are all within a few blocks of Wright’s Home & Studio on Chicago Avenue. Two of the homes were designed by Wright.
Wright designed the Arthur and Grace Heurtley House on Forest Avenue in 1902. It is considered one of the earliest examples of Wright’s Prairie Style. The home was built for Arthur Heurtley, a banker, and later Secretary of the Northern Trust Bank. The living areas are found on the second floor of the house.
The Oscar and Nonie Balch House was designed by Wright on Kenilworth Avenue in 1911. Balch was a local interior designer, and Wright also designed his storefront on Lake Street in Oak Park. The stucco-clad home recently underwent a significant, sustainable restoration.
Two homes on this year’s Wright Plus are new to the walk, and both are on Euclid Avenue.
The Paul and Frances Blatchford II House was designed by Pond & Pond in 1897. The architecture firm consisted of brothers Irving Kane Pond and Allen Bartlit Pond. The home is a blend of Arts & Crafts, Tudor and Renaissance Revival styles. Paul Blatchford was the eldest son of Chicago philanthropists and later became secretary and manager for his father’s company, the E.W. Blatchford Company.
The Calvin and Juliette Hill House was designed by Patton & Miller in 1903. Norman Patton worked with noted architect Louis Sullivan early in his career before partnering with Grant Miller, a student of Beaux-Arts architecture and an expert in library design. The home is a Georgian Colonial Revival style home. Calvin Hill moved to Chicago in 1891 to manage the expansion of the Heywood Brothers furniture company.
Just across the street on Euclid Avenue, the Charles and Cleantha Roberts House is a Queen Anne style home that was designed in 1885 by Burnham & Root and remodeled by Wright in 1896. Daniel Burnham and John Root partnered for 18 years and designed and built many residential and commercial buildings throughout the Chicago area. The pair are credited with pioneering the modern skyscraper. Roberts was the building committee chair at Unity Temple and collaborated with Wright on the remodel of his home. The current owners have restored much of the home.
On the same block of Euclid Avenue, the Hermann and Ellen Mallen Houses designed by George W. Maher in 1905. An influential architect, Maher is considered a key figure of the Prairie Style movement. The Prairie style Mallen home features a poppy motif in the art glass windows. This year marks the centennial of Maher’s death. The home was built for Herman Mallen, who owned a furniture manufacturing company and also served as the president of the Chicago Furniture Manufacturer’s Association.
The Gustavus and Ethel Babson II House was designed by Tallmadge and Watson on Linden Avenue. Thomas Tallmadge and Vernon Watson met while working for Daniel Burnham. Watson lived in Oak Park, and Tallmadge and Watson were social acquaintances of the Babsons. The Prairie Style house is the second Oak Park home that Tallmadge and Watson designed for the couple. Gustavus Babson III was one of three brothers who operated Babson Bros. Co., a mail order business that specialized in farm equipment.
The William and Wilhelmina Thoms House is an urban Queen Anne style home on Oak Park Avenue and was designed by Worthmann and Steinbach in 1904. Henry Worthmann and John Steinbach are well known for their designs of churches. The architects had a 25 year partnership during which they designed over 200 homes, two-flats and apartment buildings, many in Chicago’s Ukrainian Village. William Thoms worked for his father’s wholesale wrapping paper business until 1904 when he opened a men’s retail store in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago.
Before you go
Wright Plus takes place on Saturday, May 16. Houses are open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tickets are sold out, but the FLW Trust will offer 75 tickets for sale the day of the walk on a first-come, first-served basis at ticket pick-up, which opens at 8 a.m. in the courtyard of the Home & Studio, 951 Chicago Ave. in Oak Park.
Shuttle service will be provided from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. beginning at the Home & Studio, and travelling to the Wright Plus houses, downtown Oak Park train stations and parking garages.
Exterior photography is permitted, but no interior photography is permitted in private homes.
On the day of the walk, a restored historic 1908 Stoddard-Dayton Model car will be on view and its owners will be on hand to answer questions. This is the same model that was driven by Wright during his time in Oak Park.
Also, in the Home & Studio courtyard, guests will have the opportunity to meet the author Pat Cannon and photographer James Caulfield, whose books cover Wright and architecture in Chicago. Books will be available for purchase and signing.