Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Another famous American with an Oak Park connection is Ernest Hemingway,
who was born there on July 21, 1899. His birthplace, a Queen Anne mansion
with a porch and grand turret, is open for tours, as is the Ernest Hemingway Mu-
seum, which explores the author's mercurial life. You'll see the Pulitzer and No-
bel Prize winner's childhood diary and the famous letter from nurse Agnes von
Kurowky—later portrayed in
A Farewell to Arms
—terminating their engagement.
Ninety-minute tours of the home and museum reflect on the influence and impact
that the family and the community had on the famous author's life. Admission is $7
for adults.
Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, 200 N. Oak Park Avenue,
Oak Park, IL 60302, 708-848-2222, www.ehfop.org.
“We get people who spent their childhood drawing floor plans, people who pore over
magazines like
Architectural Digest
and
Metropolitan Home,
people who always wanted to
design and build their own home,” Kieckhefer says.
Plans that have come out of the camp vary from that of a woman who designed a nifty
garden shed to one from a man who designed a grand gallery for his contemporary art collec-
tion.
The preservation trust also offers daily tours of Wright's Oak Park home, his studio, and
the Frederick C. Robie House, the home that revolutionized architecture with its sweeping
horizontal lines, dramatic overhangs, art-glass windows, and open floor plans. In addition, the
trust organizes bike tours, hosts special events, and leads what it calls “Wright Way Tours,”
educational tours to California, Japan, upstate New York, and other locales where Wright's
masterpieces are located.
The fee for Architecture Fantasy Camp is $600 for preservation trust members and $650
for nonmembers. The class is held in the third week of June or the last week of September.
HOW TO GET IN TOUCH
Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust,
951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park, IL 60302,
708-848-1976, www.wrightplus.com.
