(figure available in print form)
The Robie House in Chicago is considered the masterpiece of Wright’s prairie style. It is one of thirty-five prairie style houses he built in a ten year period, few of which were actually on the prairie.
Robie House is arranged on one dominant axis through the living room. The central fireplace mass is on a shorter cross axis which grounds the house. The wide hearth is set deep in the house in the American Colonial fashion representing security and permanence. The sweeping roof line is anchored at the center with the upper gables on the 3rd level and chimneys at right angles to the principal axis. The floors and cantilevered roofs are carried by the chimney, the stone masses and piers. The walls, which are not used to hold the building up, are free to be placed to create the interior space and angles, to reflect light and create vistas.
On the lst and 2nd levels large rooms stretch past the central chimney in both directions.(6) These large spaces are at once enclosed safely under the low ceiling yet give the feeling of movement and freedom because of their size and window placement which create vistas. While these vistas pull the visitor toward them it is possible to leave the imagined path to places of repose, or inglenooks. The hearth, the placement of seating in groups and the enclosed areas bays provide places for repose. The utility rooms (kitchen, laundry, etc.) are grouped together, away from the places and paths for living and entertaining. Privacy is maintained for the residents with the bedrooms on the 3rd level. The children’s play room and the billiard room (adults play room) are separated from the private quarters by the 2nd level.
(figure available in print form)
3RD FLOOR bedrooms, baths, guestroom and balcony
2ND FLOOR living room, dining room, kitchen and servants rooms
1ST FLOOR billiard room, childrens playroom, entrance hall, laundry/boiler room, garage or porch
The entrance to Robie House is in the back. The street side of the house is a series of unbroken horizontals, a rich interplay of mass and void. The interior and exterior glow together through terraces and walls. The windows are arranged in rows, set deeply into the brick mass of the structure. Windows at either end of the large rooms on the lst and 2nd levels exten vistas into the exterior. Wright used iridescent or opalescent glass which plays with natural light to create mosaic patterns. Other windows are ornamental with geometric patterns, letting light in while offering privacy. From the outside, they provide ornament in contrast to the large expanses of flat surface. Wright avoided plain glass windows which appear as holes in the surface rather then integrated elements of the total design.
Wright was not the only one of his time designing in the prairie style. What we know today as the “prairie school” consisted of a group of several independent, known architects who were achieving success with the idea. It was Frank Lloyd Wright who quickly emerged as the master, the one to go beyond the limitations of all others. His synthesis and innovation profoundly affected architecture.