Harry Goodrich house (1896) Oak Park, IL

[DRN]

On my bike ride through Oak Park last week, I saw Chat's own outside in's firm sign in front of the Goodrich house. Am I correct in assuming that the nasty looking wood exterior exit stair from the second floor is gone for good?

[outside in]

that's funny - the outside stair was built as a means to provide construction access to the third floor rehabilitation. Replica ornamental windows were installed based on period photographs, and the interior space was converted into two additional bedrooms with a shared bath.

The most interesting project now underway is the reconstruction of the original front entry stairs. I'm sure its going to be a little shocking to see the original design in place in the next month!

[DRN]

I had assumed the stair was built to allow multi-family occupancy at some point....makes sense now as a means to minimize wear and tear of the main stair from work traffic.
If possible to post, I'd love to see pics of the new porch stair once it is in place.

[Reidy]

It's going to be on Wright Plus in May. You can see for yourself.

[therman7g]

[outside in]

Work continues on the restoration of the Goodrich House. The project is turning out to be an interesting example of Wright's early work.

The Goodrich House before:



With dormer removed, bay windows restored, and rebuilt stair (the entire exterior needs to be painted with original colors):


As published in April 1901

[DRN]

Thanks for posting the new pics...the stair treatment is a surprise. I hadn't imagined Wright would have used the close spaced frets AND the clapboard porch screen in the same composition, but there it is in a 1901 photo.
The 1901 pic seems to be unclear (at least as posted) as whether the diamond motif at the porch posts and second storey corners is original or added sometime after 1901. Is in the old picture but not well lighted or painted a darker color?

[outside in]

yes, the diamond pattern on the posts were there - Wright didn't bother to make a big deal out of them by painting them a contrasting color. The house originally had yellow-beige-ochre tone trim

[jmcnally]

Here's a photo from September 2009 with the temporary stairs:



More photos at http://www.flwright.us/FLW042.htm

[SDR]

The historic photo is strongly colored, if you will, by the direct sunlight and resulting shadow present at the moment the film was exposed. The shadow line almost coincides with the second-floor sill line, and also with the top edge of the porch parapet. Thus, the fussy lozenge-shaped decoration of the porch posts, echoed at each end of the second-story window band, is obscured -- whatever its paint treatment. How much calmer and more horizontally-banded the exterior seems, in that old black-and-white photo . . . !

SDR

[DavidC]

Oak Park’s Goodrich House makes the cut in Wright Spirit Awards


David