Season four of the popular Hulu series The Bear dropped last week, and Oak Parkers were thrilled to find their hometown featured in episode 5. Chef Carmy stops by the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio and tours the home, which Wright completed in 1898.
Lourdes Nicholls, a longtime Frank Lloyd Wright Trust volunteer and employee of Growing Community Media, was excited to see the show. The avowed fan of The Bear noted that during the episode, actor Jeremy Allen White gained access to places that are normally off-limits in the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio, including the kitchen and balcony of the drafting room where artist Orlando Giannini and sculptor Richard Bock (who designed the “horse fountain” at the entrance to Scoville Park) worked.
“He touches the wood and furniture,” Nicholls says, “which is a big ‘no-no’ on tours. I think they must have filmed the shots at 7 a.m. because Chicago Avenue has no cars driving on it, which is unusual.”
After visiting the Home & Studio, Carmy walks down the block and pauses in front of Wright’s Arthur and Grace Heurtley House, which he designed in 1902. The home, with its horizontal bands of bricks is considered one of Wright’s earliest Prairie designs and remains one of his most celebrated houses.
Patty Hunt, Heurtley House owner and vice chairman and executive director of the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust Board, said they didn’t even know about the cameo of their home until the show dropped last week.
“It’s unbelievable how many emails and texts I’ve gotten. I knew people loved the show, but I had no idea how popular it was,” said Hunt, noting that residents of the street received a notice in late March that the street would be closed for filming of a television series called “Four Seasons.” She later learned from her nephew, who is an aficionado of The Bear, that the film crew is very secretive and uses a code name when announcing filming locations.
Filming took place on March 27, and Hunt said she was surprised how quickly the show aired after filming. While she hasn’t had the opportunity to watch the entire season yet, she noted that in the clip that features the Heurtley House, Carmy “stops in front of the home on the sidewalk, and it seems like a moment he made a decision.”
Over the years, Hunt said, they’ve had many inquiries about using the home as a filming location, but nothing has ever materialized.
During the episode, Carmy halts before another Oak Park architectural icon, the Nathan G. Moore House. Built in 1895 in an English style with half-timbered uppers stories and a pitched roof, Wright redesigned the home after a 1922 fire damaged the top two stories of the house.
Nicholls, who enjoyed seeing Oak Park shown off in one of television’s most popular programs, said, “I love how Paul Simon’s song, “Let me Live in Your City,” historic photos of the Home & Studio, and Jeremy Allen White’s tour came together. It’s magical! Of course I need to watch it again to really ‘dig in,’ but it’s a beautiful piece that really spotlights Oak Park in the best way imaginable.”
