Frank Lloyd Wright in Peoria Illinois

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Architecture, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Classic House, EOS 24-105 L Lens, Francis W Little House, Frank Lloyd Wright, HDR, High Dynamic Range, Illinois, Peoria, Peoria Illinois, photography, Prairie Style, Wright

While driving around in Peoria, Illinois we came across a beautiful house at a peak of a hill called the Francis W. Little House and it was one of the first houses built by Frank Lloyd Wright early in his career in 1903. This was in his “Prairie Style” and was very different from the boxy and dark Victorian style houses of this era. Mr Little had produced a book of Frank Lloyd Wright houses and helped to get it published, so Mr Wright was grateful to him. Mr Little only lived in the house for 1 year before going to Minnesota where Wright built his last Prairie style house for him. Now the Swardenski family owns this house and occasionally allow glimpses inside.

Carriage House at the Dana House by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Architecture, Art, Bronze, Bust, Canon 5D Mark III, Dana House, Dana Thomas House, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Illinois, Museum, photo, photography, Springfield

Even the Carriage house at the back of the Dana House property in Springfield, Illinois was ornamented. Notice the top copper cornice on the barn has the upturned end parts that appear to turn up to the sky. This carriage house is right out on the back road and railroad tracks.

ISO 400, F/9.5, 1/250 sec, 24 mm Lens

The Architectural Maestro himself:

Decorative Urns at the Dana House by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Architecture, Buffalo, Classic House, Dana House, Darwin Martin House, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, FrankLloydWright, Illinois, Springfield, Stone Urn, Urn

One of the consistent decorative elements at the Dana House by Frank Lloyd Wright in Springfield, Illinois was the large stone urns. They capped many of the walls and accented the house with their rounded shapes. They were a massive 4 feet in diameter and used for different functions, mostly flowers. 

They sat on top of the cream colored brick walls at various locations.

They were again used just a few years later on the Darwin Martin House in Buffalo but they had evolved into a different theme of Round and Square: 

Notice the similar capped horizontal bricked walls at the Darwin Martin House in the last two images.

Copper Colored Frieze Tiles at the Dana House

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Architecture, Canon, Classic House, Dana House, Dana Thomas House, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, frieze, Illinois, Springfield

Here at the Dana House by Frank Lloyd Wright in Springfield, Illinois, we are looking up at the corner of the house at the top. The copper crowns and gutters point out and up but are actually horizontal.  The long narrow cream colored bricks, 12″ x 2″, can be seen. The painted capstones are superfine concrete, not sandstone that they resemble. 

The most unusual and amazing feature is the frieze or patterned green area below the eves and extending down 4-6 feet. These are heavily textured plaster tiles that make a unique pattern designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. They have 10 layers of metallic glazes that mimic the verdigris (greenish blue) of weathered copper.

Much of this frieze was damaged and broken off before or during the time the Thomas Corp had the building and it was taken down and covered with plywood. After giving the house to the State it was decided to replace the tiled frieze.  The original molds were found and the company found but all the workers that knew how to do this type of work had long retired. When the retired workers heard about the Frank Lloyd Wright Dana house, many “Un-retired”, walked back into their old factory and worked on the tiles and made a whole new set for the house. They are spectacular and real.

Entrance to the Dana House by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Canon, Classic House, Dana House, Dana Thomas House, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, HDR, High Dynamic Range, Illinois, Springfield

     The Dana Thomas House was actually known to Frank Lloyd Wright as the Dana House after Susie Dana the heiress of the Lawrence estate. The Thomas name came in when a company by that name bought the house later in the 20th century and then donated it.  

     The grand entrance to the house is very atypical for Frank Lloyd Wright as most of his houses have hidden and small entrances. Mrs Dana specifically wished for a grand entrance directly off of the street in which to greet her many guests at her many parties and functions.  This entrance is a series of concentric arches ending in the arch of the door and the glass arch it contains.  

     You can see the cream colored thin 12″x 2″ brick used in the walls and arches. The grout was struck out only horizontally to add to their narriw effect. The upper arch had a fancy canvas canopy reaching out to the street that was added later by Mrs Dana.

     Above the doorway you can see the vertical columns, windows, copper colored frieze and copper crown and gutters. The roof is highly canteleuvered here and especially on the other side. This copper cornice appears to swing upwards at the ends like a Japanese pagoda, but in fact is actually horizontal being an optical illusion Mr Wright created.

An oblique view if the entrance sjowi g the abrupt upturns of the crown and copper gutter ends.

Dana Thomas House by Frank Lloyd Wright

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Architecture, Canon, Dana Thomas House, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, HDR, High Dynamic Range, House, Illinois, Springfield, Wright

While in Springfield, Illinois we had to visit the Frank Lloyd Wright Dana Thomas House.  This house was built for Susie Dana in 1902 which means it predates the Darwin Martin house in Buffalo by 5 years.  This house is situated right downtown Springfield two blocks from the governor’s mansion and right up against the railroad tracks. Susie Dana commissioned and had the house built by the new and upcoming architect Frank Lloyd Wright using her fathers vast fortune after he died. He made much of his money on railroad ventures so they were not against building near this active track.  

     The house occupied several blocks of land and totaled 10,900 square feet, huge even by today’s standards. It wrapped around and kept partially intact part of her father’s old Victorian house on the site but most of it was demolished.  Another house/cottage on site was moved intact across the tracks which we will see later.

This house incorporates many of the new elements of Wright’s style including horizontal lines, a base in light horizontal bricks, lots of Art Glass windows and copper gutters and copper fascias and frieze boards. Also present were the huge decorative stone or cement urns that would reappear in a different shape at the Darwin Martin house later.

This house had the most FLW Art Glass windows of any Frank Lloyd Wright house in the world and has most of its original FLW designed lighting fuxtures and furniture.

Antique Car at the Greycliff Estate

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Automobile, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Car, EOS 24-105 L Lens, garage, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, photo, photography, Pierce Arrow

At the Greycliff Estate designed by Frank Lloyd Wright around 1927 South of Buffalo, NY there was a nice three car garage.  Above this was the “Foster” Home or apartment.  Inside the garage was a nice antique car from the exact era on loan from the local Pierce Arrow Transportation museum in Buffalo.  I was told it was a 1927 Pierce Arrow model 80 enclosed drive Limo like the Martins owned (was it actually theirs?) back in the day.  It even has 1927 license plates.

ISO 1600, F/4, 1/20 sec, 24 mm Lens

The Foster Home at The Greycliff Estate

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Architecture, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Classic House, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Foster Home, Foster House, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, HDR, HDR Photography, High Dynamic Range, Lake Erie, photo, photography

This a view of the Garage/Apartment area of the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright on Lake Erie South of Buffalo. This section was connected to the main part of the house by a few walls that were at a right angle. They made an “apartment” over the three car garage/ carriage house there that was bigger than most people’s homes.  In this one area, Isabelle Martin allowed Frank Lloyd Wright to be more himself and use cantilevered overhangs and wide horizontal eves as he normally did.  This Foster House, where the daughter and son in law of the Martins lived, is therefore more typical of Frank Lloyd Wright. I will show several views from different angles so you can see the soaring roofs and wide eves and cantilevered balconies not really present in the Main Greycliff house section:

 Here you can see how close it is to the main Greycliff House:

ISO 100, F/9, 1/200 sec, 45 mm Lens

View of Lake Erie from the Greycliff Estate

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Buffalo, Canon 5D Mark III, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, Lake Erie, photo, photography, Skyline

From the back of the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright, you can see why they call it Greycliff.  The house sits 65 feet high over Lake Erie with great views of the beach below and of Buffalo in the distance. The cliff is rocky and grey and has layers of different types on rocks. This view of the edge and beach does not show how very far down it is to the beach below:

ISO 100, F/9, 1/400 sec, 24 mm Lens

A view in the other direction where you can see the skyline of Buffalo off in the distance:

ISO 400, F/11, 1/1000, 105 mm Lens

Furniture in the Greycliff Estate

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Art, Buffalo, Canon, Canon 5D Mark III, Chair, EOS 24-105 L Lens, FLW, Frank Lloyd Wright, Greycliff, Greycliff Estate, Lamp, photo, photography, Vase

Inside the Greycliff Estate by Frank Lloyd Wright on Lake Erie South of Buffalo, there were several items of furniture.  Some were reproductions of the original Frank Lloyd Wright designs and others were original. Here are some items in the house that I think were original. This chair, (odd as it may be), appears to be original but I cannot confirm if it is a Frank Lloyd Wright design.  His chairs were often craftsman style like.

ISO 1600, F/5.6, 1/60 sec, 47 mm Lens

This lamp and these vases are of the style that were used in the house:

ISO 1600, F/5.6, 1/90 sec, 45 mm Lens