Modern Prairie Home in Oak Park

[Tim]

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandho ... 0203-47901

I like it

Fond of the upper level ceilings

And in comparison to the McMansions of the period, it is like manna from heaven

[SDR]

Oh, I do too. While some in the neighborhood might liken it to, say, a fire station---well, that's the kind of cross that the progressive architect has to grin and bear.

The worst that I can say is that the majority of the spaces---the minor ones---hold little charm. But as for the rest, inside and out, I'm a fan. What a breath of fresh air: rational and s e x y fenestration opening the spaces as needed and breaking the symmetry in the process (but not on the street facade) in a thoroughly elegant and convincing way. The material palette is robust and heartening---and apparently conscious of the context the building was designed for.

Of course its parti is that of many a Wright house, with the best spaces upstairs under the roof.

Maybe a little "organic" detail, to the masonry or the roof fascia, would convince any doubting neighbor that this is a residence not to be slighted ? But I'm happy with it just as it is. I think we ought to learn something about its designer . . .

S

[Paul Ringstrom]

I liked the path of discovery to the hidden entry.

[Tim]

SDR, I spent five minutes digging. I couldn’t find the architect

There is a nearby home on DIVISION AND RIDGELAND. Same look and feel

[Tim]

851 N Ridgeland Ave
Oak Park, IL 60302
United States

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/851- ... 2679_zpid/

This is the other house. I used to pass by it when it was new (late 1990s). The attached garage must be newer

[SDR]

Do you know how rare that is ? A near-twin in the neighborhood, the same materials, forms, details, inside and out---but a different house, from the same office, presumably a near-contemporary. The beginnings of an ideal, unbuilt Usonia . . .?

I really do like this pair. The CMU base is slightly battered or stepped out from the brick wall above ? And, among other things, this building has no "side" (Br.)---not a Queen Anne front and a Mary-ann back, to paraphrase Wright. Indeed there's more homogeneity here than in any Usonian I can picture, as far as a unified envelope is concerned.

S

[Tim]

https://www.oakpark.com/Directory/Resou ... ntial,-Inc./

This is the builder

It seems the husband (co-owner w/wife) was the architect

Their website is not active... odd

So I performed Google searches about the business and the husband/wife individually. Not much showed (3 minutes dedicated to this effort )