Trending
Frank Lloyd Wright’s masterpiece Robie House unveils $11M restoration
The home was restored to its original standards after years of neglect
A restoration of one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous homes could help the Hyde Park residence earn world heritage site status.
Wright’s Frederick C. Robie House near the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park recently underwent an $11 million restoration project that is drawing praise from preservationists and architecture enthusiasts, according to Curbed.
The house includes some of the most well-known features of Wright’s Prairie School style, including horizontal lines and art-adorned windows. Despite its fame, years of neglect — and damage from a student demonstration in the 1960s — caused part of the home to fall into disrepair.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust decided to restore the home to its original standards, and hired Chicago-based Harboe Architects to lead the project. The firm repaired the home’s brickwork, front door, light fixtures and fireplace.
Harboe’s work could give a boost to efforts to win the home a designation as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, according to Curbed.
Wright’s work is undergoing a renaissance of sorts. The nonprofit Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation has launched a “lifestyle brand” including products like stationary and playing cards that include Prairie School designs, Curbed reports.
A plan to erect a high-rise residential building near Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park has been scuttled, thanks to worries about the project’s impact on the historic place of worship. [Curbed] — Joe Ward