One of the highlights of our Chicago trip was the visit to the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, about 20 minutes from downtown Chicago on the train. It was very easy to get to on public transit and there is no need to take a bus tour. You would want to walk to the house anyway when you get to Oak Park because there are a lot of houses in the neighbourhood that was designed by Wright. The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust provides a self-guided tour that includes a list of houses with street numbers so you can do a walking tour of the historic district. Some of the houses have very obvious Wright design elements but a few of them were quite common, on the outside at least.
The Studio Tour had to be booked in advance as there were limited tours in a day and it had to be guided. The rooms are not very big relative to the size of the group and no pictures were allowed at the time of our visit. But they will now allow photography for a $5 fee, worth paying if you are a photographer. The Wright house had a lot of interesting nooks and crannies but the highlight for me were the windows, both in the house and in the studio.
The visit to Wright's Unity Temple was a wide open self-guided tour and it was quite fun. I could take all the photos I wanted and even got a stint on the pulpit! I love the windows and the lighting. The Church has set opening hours so check it as you walk by on your way to the Wright Home and Studio to make sure you don't miss it.
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Entrance to the Home and Studio |
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| Lots of these amazing windows |
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| The approach to the octagonal study |
The walkway to the studio
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| Some Frank Lloyd Wright designed homes in Oak Park |
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| The Unity Temple - the solid wall on the lower level was meant to cut out noise |
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| Entrance doors to the Temple |
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| Inside the temple |
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| Inside windows atop the church hall |
Next post: the last one on Chicagot - the Stained Glass Museum on Navy Pier
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