Prairie Style
Frank Lloyd Wright revolutionized the American home with his "Prairie" style design.
The first Prairie houses were usually plaster with wood trim or sided with horizontal board and batten. Later Prairie homes used concrete block. Prairie homes can have many shapes: Square, L-shaped, T-shaped, Y-shaped, and even pinwheel-shaped. Prairie style houses typically have the following features: Low-pitched roof, overhanging eaves, horizontal lines, central chimney, open floor plan, and clerestory windows. Many other architects designed Prairie homes and the style was popularized by pattern books. The popular American Foursquare style, sometimes called the Prairie Box, shared many features with the Prairie style. In 1936, during the USA depression, Frank Lloyd Wright developed a simplified version of Prairie architecture called Usonian. Wright believed these stripped-down houses represented the democratic ideals of the United States. Some Famous Prairie Houses by Frank Lloyd Wright: 1893: William Winslow Residence River Forest, Illinois. Although this house uses ornamentation in the fashion of Louis Sullivan, it also shows elements of the new Prairie style. The house is a symmetrical rectangle. Oak Park, Illinois. Widely considered Wright's first Prairie Style house in Oak Park, and one of his earliest uses of stucco. Oak Park, Illinois. This low, compact house has variegated brickwork with vibrant color and rough texture. This Frank Lloyd house in Chicago is widely considered Wright's finest example of the Prairie style.
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