Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District (ID73000699[2]
)
Added to NRHP
December 4, 1973
The Charles E. Roberts Stable is a renovated former barn in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The building has a long history of remodeling work including an 1896 transformation by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.
The stable remodel was commissioned by
Tudor Revival
style but still displays the architectural thumbprint of Wright's later work.
The building is listed as a
Registered Historic District
.
History
Charles E. Roberts was an engineer, inventor and important early client of Frank Lloyd Wright.[3] Roberts was an influential member of the building committee of Unity Temple in Oak Park.[4] For Roberts, Wright also developed the Quadruple Block Plan of 1900–1903.[5] Some architectural historians have mistakenly identified Charles E. Roberts as the father of Oak Park Studio architect Isabel Roberts.[6] Isabel's father was James H. Roberts of South Bend, Indiana.
In 1896 Charles E. Roberts, an established patron of
son-in-law and an employee in Wright's studio in the years 1903–1905. Sources greatly vary on the date of White's conversion.[7][8] The village of Oak Park's landmark nomination form for Wright's other Roberts project, the patron's home, dates White's conversion of the garage into a residence at 1929, the year when the structure was physically moved from its original location to its present location.[7] Historian Thomas O'Gorman, while noting the 1929 move, states that the Wright-redesigned barn conversion was altered into a dwelling between 1903 and 1904. O'Gorman connects White's remodel to the thorough overhaul the building experienced under Wright's creative control.[8]
Architecture
The view of the front (east) elevation is obscured by foliage during warmer months.
The house elicits in its viewer a distinct "English feel."
eaves found in Wright's roof designs. White carried Wright's design a step further in his remodel, but Wright's architectural aplomb is still evident in the structure.[8]
The home expresses a familial coziness, common to Wright's later early modern
barn conversion was an architectural advance in the late 19th century.[8] Wright's work on the stable introduced angularity and converted it from a barn to a building which conveyed a meld of country charm and modernity. O'Gorman compares the home to those designed by architect Edwin Lutyens. The prominent roof features second-story dormers, and its massive scale is balanced by Wright's placement of towering chimneys at either end of the house.[8] The home's front facade is obscured by bushes, trees and landscaping during the warmer months, and the home is best viewed in autumn or winter.[9]
Significance
The Charles E. Roberts Stable is one of several examples of Wright's work on pre-existing structures found in the village of Oak Park. Other examples include the
^Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography, by Frank Lloyd Wright, p. 383
^Frank Lloyd Wright: An Autobiography, by Frank Lloyd Wright, pp. 153, 158
^Frank Lloyd Wright and His Vision of the Future, by Franz Sdoutz
^The Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright, by William Allin Storer, Second Edition, p. 150
^ abcde"Charles E Roberts House," (PDF), Oak Park Landmark Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database, Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Retrieved 14 June 2007.
