Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The Wright Plus Tour
Die-hard fans of the architect will want to plan to be in town the third
Saturday in May for the annual Wright Plus Tour, during which the public
can tour several Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes and several other
notable Oak Park buildings, in both the Prairie School and the Victorian
styles, in addition to Wright's home and studio and the Unity Temple. The
tour includes 10 buildings in all. Tickets go on sale March 1 and can sell
out within 6 weeks. Call
&
708/848-1976
(Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Stu-
dio) for details and ticket information.
Tips
German, Japanese, and Italian). Available at the Ginkgo Tree Bookshop from
10am to 3:30pm, the self-guided tour costs $9 for adults and $7 for seniors and
children. In addition to Wright's work, you will see that of several of his disci-
ples, as well as some very charming examples of the Victorian styling that he so
disdained. A more detailed map selling for $3 at the bookshop,
Architectural
Guide Map of Oak Park and River Forest,
includes text and photos of all 80 sites
of interest in Oak Park and neighboring River Forest.
The Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio
Ages 3 & up.
For the first
20 years of Wright's career, this remarkable complex served first and foremost as
the sanctuary from which Wright was to design and execute more than 130 of
an extraordinary output of 430 completed buildings. During this highly fertile
period, the house was Wright's showcase and laboratory, but it also embraces
many idiosyncratic features molded to his own needs rather than those of a
client. The home began as a simple shingled cottage that Wright built for his
bride in 1889 at the age of 22, but it became a work in progress, as Wright
remodeled it constantly over the years. With its many add-ons—including a bar-
rel-vaulted children's playroom and a studio with an octagonal balcony sus-
pended by chains—the place has a certain whimsy that others might have found
less livable. This, however, was not an architect's masterpiece, but the master's
home, and every room in it can be savored for the view it reflects of the work-
ings of a remarkable mind. The Home and Studio Foundation has restored the
residence and studio to its 1909 vintage—the year Wright left the house.
The special guided Junior Architecture Tour presents the home through the
eyes of the six Wright children who grew up here. (One of those children later
invented Lincoln Logs.) Tours, which are for kids age 6 to 14, are led the fourth
Saturday of the month from January to November and last 45 minutes. What's
most special is that the tours are given by the Preservation Trust's Junior Inter-
preters, specially trained 5th- through 10th-grade students. Tour cost is $3.
951 Chicago Ave.
&
708/848-1976.
www.wrightplus.org. Admission $9 adults, $7 seniors and children
7-18, free for children under 7. Combined admission for Home & Studio tour and guided or self-guided his-
toric district tour (see below) $15 adults, $11 seniors and children 7-18. Admission to home and studio is by
guided tour only; tours depart from the Ginkgo Tree Bookshop Mon-Fri 11am, 1pm, and 3pm; Sat-Sun every
20 min. 11am-3:30pm. Facilities for people with disabilities are limited; please call in advance.
Robie House
Ages 7 & up.
One of Frank Lloyd Wright's finest works,
the Robie House is considered among the masterpieces of 20th-century Ameri-
can architecture. The open layout, linear geometry of form, and craftsmanship
are typical of Wright's Prairie School design. Completed in 1909 for inventor
Frederick Robie, a bicycle and motorcycle manufacturer, the home is also
