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Architectural historian H. Allen Brooks (1984) tells us the Modernist movement began as a series of subcultures seeking alternatives to prevailing practices in design, especially the Classical Revival styles which were again the dominant mode. The Prairie School was a regional architectural style which was part of the turn-of-the-century reform and revolt in the visual arts, including Art Nouveau, the Austrian Successionists, and the Glasgow School.
James D. Kornwolf views the Prairie School as the Midwestern and most original American response to the Arts and Crafts Movement in England. He then presents four Ethical and four Aesthetic directions which characterize the American Arts and Crafts Movement. Ethically, Arts and Crafts:
involved women and ordinary people
sought simple and direct design solutions
was an intellectual group
with an agenda of social reform.
Better homes would create a better society; they were idealistic romantics, but also early Moderns. Aesthetically, we see:
neutralized surfaces
abstraction of form
interpenetration of house and garden
an emphasis on total design
exteriors and interior design are integrated.
The Prairie School was distinctly American for the following reasons:
its theoretical connection is to nature, not to idealism and classical rules
the forms have a regional quality connected to vernacular architecture of the Midwest
“Form follows function” the credo of Louis Sullivan, the mentor of the Prairie School, is evident in the work
the close relationship of the building to the landscape
the openness and informality of the floorplans with an emphasis on use and convenience. The qualities which, for Brooks, gives Prairie School architecture its American identity, also help describe its enduring appeal and its relevance for contemporary study
Frank Lloyd Wright
Wright was the single most important of the Prairie School architects. Generally considered the first Prairie structure, the “Ward Willetts House” of 1904 exhibited the defining stylistic characteristicsA low ground-hugging horizontality created by an expansive hipped roof
Broad eaves and half-walls extending out from the building mass
Ribbon windows which wrap around the corners of the structure making them into abstract geometric patterns
A massive central fireplace at the heart of the house which anchors the structure.
Another of Wright’s goals was to build affordable yet aesthetically pleasing housing. The majority of Prairie School commissions were from well-educated middle class patrons, not the wealthy; upper class patrons generally desired houses which looked like the royal palaces of the past. In 1906, The Ladies Home Journal published Wright’s plans for “A Fireproof House for $5,000”. This plan became the most influential design of his early career. Based on the ubiquitous turn-of the-century vernacular form known as “The American Foursquare” Wright transformed this inexpensive, energy-efficient, standardized and austere house by applying his ideas to it (Wilson, G. and Robinson, S.K., 1977).
Interior space was further enhanced by eliminating walls and doors, opening the living room and dining rooms into one another, using clerestory windows and French doors, and integrating trimwork, colors and materials throughout. The resulting expansiveness made these modest homes, at least psychologically, more house for the money.
On the exterior, he lowered the profile and emphasized the horizontal, organized casement windows into horizontal bands and geometric shapes, used stucco and stained wood instead of painted clapboard, and cleverly moved the entrance to the side of the structure - vastly improving the traffic pattern and creating more space on the interior as well as simplifying the facade.
The people Wright inspired also inspired him. Wright’s contemporaries went on to create original work of fine quality. In fact, The Prairie School reached its zenith after Wright had moved on to other projects. The design teams of Griffin and Mahoney, and Elmslie and Purcell deserve to be on any “short list” of Prairie architects
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