For the Press

OAK PARK, IL (January 7, 2010) -- Frank Lloyd Wright's Robie House, the icon of modern architecture, is celebrating one hundred years in 2010. Robie House is renowned for its amazing contemporary spaces, sweeping horizontal lines, dramatic overhangs, built-in furnishings, stretches of art glass windows and open floor plan. Still its clean, dynamic lines, exploitation of steel framing, and extensive use of art glass to dissolve the home’s walls foreshadow many elements of modernism.

The residence sparked a revolution in residential architecture whose influence still reverberates today. Designated by the American Institute of Architects as one of the 10 most significant structures of the 20th century, this American treasure is celebrated as one of Chicago’s most important works of art. In fact, Robie House is the only structure to which the Wright returned, saving the home from demolition, twice.

"Robie House created at the domestic level something new to the eyes of 1909 Chicago, supplanting the symmetrical classicism of the day by an asymmetrical monumentality. In the structurally expressive use of piers, wall planes, and stripes of windows all clustered about a central chimney, one senses an unusual coherence to planning. Visually this produced a bold interplay of forms with strong horizontals at different levels, originating in but leading away from the dominate vertical."1

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Robie House as an example of a new way of American living—in contrast to the revival styles of architecture that had become popular in the United States. Incorporated within this structure were the latest technological innovations, such as elaborate electrical lighting, intercom systems, a single-valve watering scheme, magnesite flooring and a central vacuum unit. Yet, what makes the home most modern was the development of the flexible living spaces, building materials such as steel and Wright’s employment of the Machine Age to create Arts and Craft designs.

Wright sought new forms and open space to create a unique American style of architecture. His buildings were a departure from the antiquated European designs. They expressed democratic ideas and a spiritual connection with the land. However, with the Robie House, Wright’s artistic language achieved a modern aesthetic with recessed and projected massing, composed largely of brick, stone, concrete and glass, and these elements further enhanced the modern appeal by employing the exterior materials so prevalently throughout the interior décor.

Frank Lloyd Wright's inspiration for an indigenous architecture with roots exemplified by the American Midwest, and best represented with the Robie House, ironically first inspired a new generation of European architects. In 1911 Wright's new American architecture was influential to European design and European architects and artists gleaned from Wright's concept the International Style still common in commercial and residential modernist design. Torch bearers of the International style include J.J.P. Oud and Mies van der Rohe, the latter's work is very prevalent in Chicago. Wright's Prairie style, best exemplified by the Robie House, has also been cited as a precursor to the ranch style and split-level homes rife in the mid-to late twentieth century.

Robie House, more than any other structure, demonstrated Wright's genius and brought him acclaim from both the United States and abroad. In its precision-like arrangement, the home continues to be recognized as one of the most important buildings of the 20th century, a building that propelled the modernist movement in architecture. Wright so admired the building, he commented, "I think the house should be preserved as a little club of some kind, or perhaps as a museum of architecture."2

About the Robie House Centennial Celebration

The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust will introduce an expanded selection of guest experiences to Wright’s Robie House for the Centennial Celebration commencing in January 2010. The new experiences are open to the public and will encourage a more personal connection with the museum, allowing guests options to direct their interaction with the Robie House, providing expanded access, and offering opportunities for deeper engagement with Wright’s icon of modern design. The new programs will operate throughout 2010 and include family workshops, in-depth examinations of the museum and the Preservation Trust collection, social events, themed guided tours and self-guided tours. Visit GoWright.org for a complete listing of Robie House programs and tickets to the expanded offerings as dates and times will vary for tours, programs and events.

1 Alan Burnham, "One Hundred Years of Significant Building, 9: Houses Since 1907," Architectural Record CXXI (1957): 200.

2 United Press. "Wright Opens Fire On Seminary Planning To Level His Creation." Chicago Daily News, 1957.