Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago [Hardcover]

Thomas J. O'Gorman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 20, 2004

Chicago and the suburb of Oak Park are home to the greatest concentration of Frank Lloyd Wright designed buildings in the world. 96 of Wright’s structures, chronologically presented from the master architect's earliest designs through more modern structures, are explored in 450 gorgeous color photographs and lively essays, along with a separate appendix highlighting the beach houses on Lake Delavan. In 1887 Frank Lloyd Wright moved to Chicago and began his work as a draftsman, eventually starting his own firm in 1893. During his enormously productive Chicago years (1887–1909) Wright developed and refined the ideas that would form his "Prairie Style." Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago is a comprehensive guide that features the buildings Wright designed during this 22-year period—culminating with the iconographic Robie House, built in 1909—as well as others designed and built later in his career.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Chicago and its suburb, Oak Park (where Wright lived for many years), house the largest concentration of his buildings in the nation, and this photographic survey highlights more than 100 of those structures in a chronological fashion. This is done without fanfare and with frequent comparisons to Wright’s other work, making the book more suitable for architecture fans than for casual readers. O’Gorman’s description of the E. Arthur Davenport House ("The material used on the exterior is also a contrast to Wright’s all-stucco preference in design. Here Wright returns to his tried-and-true board-and-batten horizontal cladding, reminiscent of the treatment used at the Goan House") is representative of the writing throughout—far from compelling yet pleasantly spare and descriptive. O’Gorman (Architecture in Detail: Chicago 2002) also provides plenty of biographical context, describing Wright’s childhood spent with "a mother of cloyingly intensive emotional control," his apprenticeship with Chicago architect Louis Sullivan and his abandonment of his wife and six children in the early 1900s to escape to Europe with a client’s wife. The passages describing Wright’s life are divided into sections corresponding to his different periods and styles, from his early work to his most identifiable creation, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Although the book isn’t thrillingly written and will likely be passed over by those seeking a more generalist overview, it’s a well-researched window into the architect’s life and creations. 400+ color illustrations.
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Product Details

• Hardcover: 416 pages
• Publisher: Thunder Bay Press (September 20, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1856487067
• ISBN-13: 978-1592231270
• ASIN: 1592231276
• Product Dimensions: 12.3 x 9.1 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,262,766 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Frank LLoyd Wright's Chicago, January 18, 2008

By 

BJ "BJ" (Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago (Hardcover)

I am a big fan of FLW and I have enjoyed looking thru this book many times. The photos are great and the homes are arranged very well. This is one good book.