When Frank Lloyd Wright was 9 years old his mother gave him a few toys designed by Friedrich Froebel, the German educational reformer who founded the kindergarten system. Among them, a set of maple wood blocks.
The world-revered architect later credited these gifts for shaping his perception of the “rhythmic structure in nature. . . . I soon became susceptible to constructive patterns evolving in everything I see,” he wrote.
Wright’s Oak Park Home and Studio, which he built in 1889, began as a simple cottage. In 1895 he added a large formal dining room and a barrel-vaulted playroom for his children. Three years later, he annexed a four-room studio.
You could say Wright used his home as he once used his wooden Froebel blocks; to change, rearrange and experiment with innovative ideas. And, as Froebel wound up creating a new type of school, so did Wright: the Prairie School of architecture.
Although owned by the National Trust for Historic Preservation, the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio Foundation has been charged with maintaining the structure for the last 20 years. And over the weekend, 200 foundation supporters assembled downtown in another of Wright’s architectural gems: the glass and iron dome of The Rookery’s “Light Court.”
Although originally designed by John Root in 1886, Wright completely renovated the skylit lobby in 1905 and brought a new, geometric language to the building, which included his signature urns and “moonlight” fixtures.
“We’re (holding the event) downtown mainly because of the building,” said Douglas Piper, the benefit’s chairman. “Secondarily, we’re hoping to attract people from other areas who might not know about us. We call it `friend raising.’ “
As for funds, the expected $40,000 to $50,000 raised will be used to further the foundation’s two basic missions. Piper said they are: “To protect and preserve the Home and Studio . . . and to promote an understanding of not only Wright’s life work, but what he was like as a person.”
Which was “very decisive and egotistical,” he added. “That’s just a matter of fact. You could say it was part of his charm.”
“He defined human scale as 5’7″ or 5’11”, however tall he was, for example, because that was his height.”
“He didn’t compromise his style. It was his way or nothing. That helped create pure buildings, designed in ways never done before,” Piper said.
