Frank Lloyd Wright designed his first prairie-style house when he was 26. Now it is for sale

Frank Lloyd Wright’s first commission as an independent architect is officially on the market. Mentioned For $1,985,000, the Winslow House in suburban Chicago was built in 1893, when the Midwestern architect was just 26 years old.

Wright would go down in history greatest American architectsdesigning famous houses such as Falling water And Taliesin West. But by the 1890s his fame was limited to the Chicago suburbs, where he had made a home with his wife and children while working for the architectural firm. Adler & Sullivan,

While working at the company, Wright had taken private design jobs on his own time, which he was not allowed to do. His superiors discovered his activities and Wright left the company on bad terms. However, his departure allowed him to openly accept commissions as an independent architect.

The first people to hire him were Edith and William Winslow, who owned a decorative iron company in Chicago. Wright designed a five-bedroom home for the couple in River Forest, Illinois. According to one statement of Christie’s International Real Estate, which is selling the property, the project “helped launch Wright’s groundbreaking career.”

In 2016, Susan and Arthur Vogt purchased the house, which they had fallen in love with many years earlier during an architecture class at university, by Architectural summary“Abigail Singh. The house had been vacant for years and the retired Vogts were afraid it would continue to deteriorate if no one took care of it. They bought it for $1.3 million and moved from Boston to River Forest to begin renovations in 2018.

“You can almost feel where Wright was experimenting with different shapes and different ideas about how to design the house,” says Arthur, an architect. Architectural summary. “That was fascinating for me.”

In 1970 the Winslow House was listed National Register of Historic Places. Wright considered it his first, according to the statement Prairie style design. Inspired by the “broad, flat landscape of America’s Midwest,” the Prairie Style emphasized the harmony between buildings and their surrounding landscapes, according to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

The Winslow house contains many design signatures that would become characteristic of Wright’s style. “The low roof with deep eaves is reminiscent of the vast horizon of the open plain,” writes Artnetby Richard Whiddington. “The door is slightly recessed and the house is symmetrical, divided horizontally between slate and golden Roman brick.” The house also features a unique fireplace, a partially enclosed room that Wright would emulate in later designs.

When the Vogts began work on the building, they wanted to preserve its style and function.

“We felt that the best way to preserve this house was to make it suitable for a family to live in and continue the legacy of it being a family home,” says Susan. Architectural summary. “But it had to be brought into the 21st century.”

Their $1 million renovation included installing air conditioning, updating the electrical system, renovating the bathrooms and landscaping the large garden. The Vogts also added a generator, a tankless water heater and smart thermostats. They purposely sell the house at a loss, hoping that the new owners will love the house as much as they do.

“We didn’t do this to make money,” Susan tells Dennis Rodkin Crains Business Chicago. “We did it because we want this house to be lived in and appreciated by someone.”