Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhangingeaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the landscape, solid construction, craftsmanship, and discipline in the use of ornament. Horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the wide, flat, treeless expanses of America's native prairie landscape.
The Prairie School was an attempt at developing an indigenous North American style of architecture in sympathy with the ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts Movement, with which it shared an embrace of handcrafting and craftsman guilds as an antidote to the dehumanizing effects of mass production.
The Prairie School developed in sympathy with the ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts Movement begun in the late 19th century in England by John Ruskin, William Morris, and others. Along with the kindred American Craftsman movement it shared an embrace of handcrafting and craftsman guilds as a reaction against the new assembly linemass production manufacturing techniques, which was felt to create inferior products and dehumanize workers.
The Prairie School was also an attempt at developing an indigenous North American style of architecture that did not share design elements and aesthetic vocabulary with earlier styles of European classical architecture. Many talented and ambitious young architects had been attracted by building opportunities stemming from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. The World's Columbian Exposition (Chicago World's Fair) of 1893 was supposed to be a heralding of the city of Chicago's rebirth. But many of the young Midwestern architects of what would become the Prairie School were offended by the Greek and Roman classicism of nearly every building erected for the fair. In reaction, they sought to create new work in and around Chicago that would display a uniquely modern and authentically American style, which came to be called Prairie.
The designation Prairie is due to the dominant horizontality of the majority of Prairie style buildings, which echoes the wide, flat, treeless expanses of the mid-Western United States. The most famous proponent of the style, Frank Lloyd Wright, promoted an idea of "organic architecture" (p. 53),[1] the primary tenet of which was that a structure should look as if it naturally grew from the site. In the words of Wright, buildings that appeared as if they were "married to the ground." (p. 53)[1] Wright also felt that a horizontal orientation was a distinctly American design motif, in that the younger country had much more open, undeveloped land than found in most older and highly urbanized European nations.
The Prairie School is mostly associated with a generation of architects employed or influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright or Louis Sullivan, though usually not including Sullivan himself. While the style originated in Chicago, some Prairie School architects spread its influence well beyond the Midwest. A partial list of Prairie School architects includes:
Prairie School houses are characterized by open floor plans, horizontal lines, and indigenous materials. These were related to the American Arts and Crafts movement and its emphasis on hand craftsmanship, simplicity, and function. Both were alternatives to the then-dominant Classical Revival Style of Greek forms with occasional Roman influences. Some firms, such as Purcell & Elmslie, which accepted the honest presence of machine worked surfaces, consciously rejected the term "Arts and Crafts" for their work. The Prairie School was also heavily influenced by the Idealistic Romantics who believed better homes would create better people, and the Transcendentalist philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson. In turn, Prairie School architects influenced subsequent architectural idioms, particularly the less is more ethos of Minimalists and form following function in Bauhaus, itself a mixture of De Stijl grid-based design and Constructist emphasis on the structure itself and its building materials.
Architectural historians have debated the reasons why the Prairie School went out of favor by the mid-1920s. In her autobiography, Prairie School architect Marion Mahony suggests:
The enthusiastic and able young men as proved in their later work were doubtless as influential in the office later as were these early ones but Wright's early concentration on publicity and his claims that everybody was his disciple had a deadening influence on the Chicago group and only after a quarter of a century do we find creative architecture conspicuously evident in the United States.[2]
Prairie School buildingsedit
The Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Built between 1908 and 1909, this Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home is considered "Michigan's Prairie masterpiece."[3]
The Oak Circle Historic District is a historic district in Wilmette, Illinois, United States. It primarily consists of fifteen single-family homes representative of the Prairie School and Craftsman styles of architecture constructed between 1917 and 1929. The Oak Circle Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 21, 2001; it was the first historic district to be designated in Wilmette.
The Rock Crest–Rock Glen Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Mason City, Iowa. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. All of the buildings are houses designed in the Prairie School style, and are a part of a planned development. Mason City is also home to The Historic Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank—two adjacent commercial buildings designed in the Prairie School style. Completed in 1910, the Historic Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright-designed hotel in the world, of the six for which he was the architect of record. The Dr. G.C. Stockman House is another example of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie School style found in Mason City, Iowa. Built in 1908, the Stockman House was the first Wright-designed Prairie School-style house in Iowa. Today, the house functions as a museum welcoming visitors and architectural enthusiasts from all around the world.
Interest in the ideas and designs of the Prairie School artists and architects has grown since the late 1980s, thanks in large part to celebrity collecting habits and high-profile auction results on many of the decorative designs from buildings of the era. In addition to numerous books, magazine articles, videos and merchandise promoting the movement, a number of original Prairie School building sites have become public museums, open for tours and special interactive events. Several not-for-profit organizations and on-line communities have been formed to educate people about the Prairie School movement and help preserve the designs associated with it. Some of these organizations and sites are listed in the External links section below.
^ abJones, Cranston (April 27, 1959). "The Finale at 89 For a Fiery Genius: Death Ends Wright's Flamboyant Career". LIFE Magazine. Retrieved August 23, 2018.
^Griffin, Marion Mahony, The Magic of America, p. 580
^Storrer, William A. (2002). The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright. University of Chicago Press. p. 146.
Brooks, H. Allen, Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School, Braziller (in association with the Cooper-Hewitt Museum), New York 1984; ISBN0-8076-1084-4
Brooks, H. Allen, The Prairie School, W. W. Norton, New York 2006; ISBN0-393-73191-X
Brooks, H. Allen (editor), Prairie School Architecture: Studies from "The Western Architect", University of Toronto Press, Toronto, Buffalo 1975; ISBN0-8020-2138-7
Brooks, H. Allen, The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries, University of Toronto Press, Toronto 1972; ISBN0-8020-5251-7
Brooks, H. Allen (editor), Writings on Wright: Selected Comment on Frank Lloyd Wright, MIT Press, Cambridge MA and London 1981; ISBN0-262-02161-7
Visser, Kristin, Frank Lloyd Wright & the Prairie School in Wisconsin: An Architectural Touring Guide, Trails Media Group; 2nd Rev edition (June, 1998). ISBN1-879483-51-3.
External linksedit
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prairie School architecture.
Unity Temple Restoration Foundation
Minneapolis Institute of Arts "Unified Vision – the Architecture and Design of the Prairie School"
Pleasant Home Foundation for George W. Maher's Farson House
This Historic Midwestern Masterpiece Got the Renovation It Deserved
Frank Lloyd Wright's Historic Park Inn Hotel
Frank Lloyd Wright's Stockman House
October 27, 2023
prairie, school, school, wind, point, wisconsin, this, article, includes, list, references, related, reading, external, links, sources, remain, unclear, because, lacks, inline, citations, please, help, improve, this, article, introducing, more, precise, citati. For the school in Wind Point Wisconsin see The Prairie School This article includes a list of references related reading or external links but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style most common in the Midwestern United States The style is usually marked by horizontal lines flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves windows grouped in horizontal bands integration with the landscape solid construction craftsmanship and discipline in the use of ornament Horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the wide flat treeless expanses of America s native prairie landscape Chicago Avenue side of architect Frank Lloyd Wright s home and studio in Oak Park Illinois showing post 1911 changes to studio building Robie House 1910 It is considered by many to be the quintessential Prairie houseHarold C Bradley House Madison Wisconsin by Louis Sullivan and George Grant ElmslieWoodbury County Courthouse Iowa by William L Steele and Purcell and Elmslie associate architects The Prairie School was an attempt at developing an indigenous North American style of architecture in sympathy with the ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts Movement with which it shared an embrace of handcrafting and craftsman guilds as an antidote to the dehumanizing effects of mass production Contents 1 History 2 Prairie School architects 3 Prairie School influence 4 Prairie School buildings 5 Modern interest 6 Gallery 7 See also 8 Citations 9 General and cited references 10 External linksHistory editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Prairie School developed in sympathy with the ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts Movement begun in the late 19th century in England by John Ruskin William Morris and others Along with the kindred American Craftsman movement it shared an embrace of handcrafting and craftsman guilds as a reaction against the new assembly line mass production manufacturing techniques which was felt to create inferior products and dehumanize workers The Prairie School was also an attempt at developing an indigenous North American style of architecture that did not share design elements and aesthetic vocabulary with earlier styles of European classical architecture Many talented and ambitious young architects had been attracted by building opportunities stemming from the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 The World s Columbian Exposition Chicago World s Fair of 1893 was supposed to be a heralding of the city of Chicago s rebirth But many of the young Midwestern architects of what would become the Prairie School were offended by the Greek and Roman classicism of nearly every building erected for the fair In reaction they sought to create new work in and around Chicago that would display a uniquely modern and authentically American style which came to be called Prairie The designation Prairie is due to the dominant horizontality of the majority of Prairie style buildings which echoes the wide flat treeless expanses of the mid Western United States The most famous proponent of the style Frank Lloyd Wright promoted an idea of organic architecture p 53 1 the primary tenet of which was that a structure should look as if it naturally grew from the site In the words of Wright buildings that appeared as if they were married to the ground p 53 1 Wright also felt that a horizontal orientation was a distinctly American design motif in that the younger country had much more open undeveloped land than found in most older and highly urbanized European nations Prairie School architects editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message The Prairie School is mostly associated with a generation of architects employed or influenced by Frank Lloyd Wright or Louis Sullivan though usually not including Sullivan himself While the style originated in Chicago some Prairie School architects spread its influence well beyond the Midwest A partial list of Prairie School architects includes John S Van Bergen Lawrence Buck Ransom Buffalow Barry Byrne Alfred Caldwell William Drummond George Grant Elmslie Marion Mahony Griffin Walter Burley Griffin Henry John Klutho George Washington Maher Mason Maury John Randal McDonald George Mann Niedecken Interior Dwight Heald Perkins William Gray Purcell Isabel Roberts Francis Conroy Sullivan Claude and Starck William LaBarthe Steele Trost amp Trost Andrew Willatzen Taylor Woolley Frank Lloyd WrightPrairie School influence editPrairie School houses are characterized by open floor plans horizontal lines and indigenous materials These were related to the American Arts and Crafts movement and its emphasis on hand craftsmanship simplicity and function Both were alternatives to the then dominant Classical Revival Style of Greek forms with occasional Roman influences Some firms such as Purcell amp Elmslie which accepted the honest presence of machine worked surfaces consciously rejected the term Arts and Crafts for their work The Prairie School was also heavily influenced by the Idealistic Romantics who believed better homes would create better people and the Transcendentalist philosophy of Ralph Waldo Emerson In turn Prairie School architects influenced subsequent architectural idioms particularly the less is more ethos of Minimalists and form following function in Bauhaus itself a mixture of De Stijl grid based design and Constructist emphasis on the structure itself and its building materials Architectural historians have debated the reasons why the Prairie School went out of favor by the mid 1920s In her autobiography Prairie School architect Marion Mahony suggests The enthusiastic and able young men as proved in their later work were doubtless as influential in the office later as were these early ones but Wright s early concentration on publicity and his claims that everybody was his disciple had a deadening influence on the Chicago group and only after a quarter of a century do we find creative architecture conspicuously evident in the United States 2 Prairie School buildings edit nbsp The Meyer May House in Grand Rapids Michigan Built between 1908 and 1909 this Frank Lloyd Wright designed home is considered Michigan s Prairie masterpiece 3 An example of Prairie School architecture is the aptly named The Prairie School a private day school in Racine Wisconsin designed by Taliesin Associates an architectural firm originated by Wright and located almost adjacent to Wright s Wingspread Conference Center Mahony s and Griffin s work in Australia and India notably the collection of homes at Castlecrag New South Wales are fine examples of how the Prairie School spread far from its Chicago roots Isabel Roberts Veterans Memorial Library in St Cloud Florida is another 4 The House at 8 Berkley Drive at Lockport New York was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2009 5 The Oak Circle Historic District is a historic district in Wilmette Illinois United States It primarily consists of fifteen single family homes representative of the Prairie School and Craftsman styles of architecture constructed between 1917 and 1929 The Oak Circle Historic District was added to the National Register of Historic Places on June 21 2001 it was the first historic district to be designated in Wilmette The Rock Crest Rock Glen Historic District is a nationally recognized historic district located in Mason City Iowa It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 All of the buildings are houses designed in the Prairie School style and are a part of a planned development Mason City is also home to The Historic Park Inn Hotel and City National Bank two adjacent commercial buildings designed in the Prairie School style Completed in 1910 the Historic Park Inn Hotel is the last remaining Frank Lloyd Wright designed hotel in the world of the six for which he was the architect of record The Dr G C Stockman House is another example of Frank Lloyd Wright s Prairie School style found in Mason City Iowa Built in 1908 the Stockman House was the first Wright designed Prairie School style house in Iowa Today the house functions as a museum welcoming visitors and architectural enthusiasts from all around the world Modern interest editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2018 Learn how and when to remove this template message Interest in the ideas and designs of the Prairie School artists and architects has grown since the late 1980s thanks in large part to celebrity collecting habits and high profile auction results on many of the decorative designs from buildings of the era In addition to numerous books magazine articles videos and merchandise promoting the movement a number of original Prairie School building sites have become public museums open for tours and special interactive events Several not for profit organizations and on line communities have been formed to educate people about the Prairie School movement and help preserve the designs associated with it Some of these organizations and sites are listed in the External links section below Gallery edit nbsp Ward Willits House Highland Park Illinois 1901 one of the first Prairie Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright nbsp The Darwin Martin House Buffalo New York 1903 1905 Frank Lloyd Wright nbsp Robie House Chicago Illinois 1908 Frank Lloyd Wright nbsp Unity Temple Oak Park Illinois 1905 1908 Frank Lloyd Wright nbsp Larkin Administration Building Buffalo New York 1906 Frank Lloyd Wright nbsp Merchants National Bank Winona Minnesota 1912 Purcell and Elmslie nbsp Purcell House Minneapolis Minnesota 1913 Purcell and Elmslie nbsp Henry Schultz House Winnetka Illinois 1907 George W Maher nbsp The Ernest J Magerstadt House Chicago Illinois 1908 George W Maher nbsp The Kenilworth Club entrance Kenilworth Illinois 1907 George W Maher nbsp William H Emery Jr House 1903 Walter Burley Griffin nbsp Ralph Griffin House Edwardsville Illinois 1913 Walter Burley Griffin nbsp Frederick Carter House Evanston Illinois 1910 Walter Burley Griffin nbsp Architect William E Drummond s own house River Forest Illinois 1910 nbsp First Congregational Church Chicago Illinois 1908 William E Drummond nbsp Morocco Temple Jacksonville Florida 1910 Henry John Klutho nbsp Cafe Brauer Chicago Illinois 1908 Dwight Heald Perkins nbsp First Reformed Church Toledo Ohio 1900s Langdon and Hohly architects nbsp Herbert F Johnson House Wingspread Wind Point Wisconsin 1939 Frank Lloyd Wright See also editHartington City Hall and Auditorium List of Frank Lloyd Wright works The Menninger Clinic Houston Texas Oak Park Illinois St John s African Methodist Episcopal Church The Villa District ChicagoCitations edit a b Jones Cranston April 27 1959 The Finale at 89 For a Fiery Genius Death Ends Wright s Flamboyant Career LIFE Magazine Retrieved August 23 2018 Griffin Marion Mahony The Magic of America p 580 Storrer William A 2002 The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright University of Chicago Press p 146 Roberts Isabel June 28 2010 Works photograms Florida a href Template Citation html title Template Citation citation a CS1 maint location missing publisher link National Register Information System National Register of Historic Places National Park Service March 13 2009 General and cited references editBrooks H Allen Frank Lloyd Wright and the Prairie School Braziller in association with the Cooper Hewitt Museum New York 1984 ISBN 0 8076 1084 4 Brooks H Allen The Prairie School W W Norton New York 2006 ISBN 0 393 73191 X Brooks H Allen editor Prairie School Architecture Studies from The Western Architect University of Toronto Press Toronto Buffalo 1975 ISBN 0 8020 2138 7 Brooks H Allen The Prairie School Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest Contemporaries University of Toronto Press Toronto 1972 ISBN 0 8020 5251 7 Brooks H Allen editor Writings on Wright Selected Comment on Frank Lloyd Wright MIT Press Cambridge MA and London 1981 ISBN 0 262 02161 7 Visser Kristin Frank Lloyd Wright amp the Prairie School in Wisconsin An Architectural Touring Guide Trails Media Group 2nd Rev edition June 1998 ISBN 1 879483 51 3 External links edit nbsp Wikimedia Commons has media related to Prairie School architecture Unity Temple Restoration Foundation Minneapolis Institute of Arts Unified Vision the Architecture and Design of the Prairie School Pleasant Home Foundation for George W Maher s Farson House This Historic Midwestern Masterpiece Got the Renovation It Deserved Frank Lloyd Wright s Historic Park Inn Hotel Frank Lloyd Wright s Stockman House Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Prairie School amp oldid 1158334369, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
