Prairie Style

It is nearly impossible to accurately summarize all the great things that Frank Lloyd Wright brought to American architecture as well as the lives of American people. The Prairie style was the beginning of a revolution in the way the American middle class lived. Wright opened up the living area in the home. The living room was not a room anymore, but rather a space defined by walls but not confined by them. The same thing happened for the dining room and in most houses the kitchen as well. There is an ease of movement that exists in this type of house which is unseen in the colonial style home which was the standard American home until the beginning of the 20th century. The living room in a colonial home is just that: a room closed off to the rest of the house. The images below are of the Jacobus Vanderveer house in New Jersey and of the Robie House in Chicago. Guess which one is Wright's house.

The Vanderveer house was built in 1776 and it underwent major renovations, the last one occurring in 1910. The Robie house was built in downtown Chicago in 1909. Most houses in the US built since this time period have had at least a bit of influence from the prairie style house in the way that the living space is organized for the inhabitants.

For more information on the Vanderveer House, click here.
For more information on the Robie House, click here.