Experience the Holidays at Frank Lloyd Wright's Home and Studio

Every holiday season the Oak Park, Illinois, home of Frank Lloyd Wright is decorated as it would have been in the early 20th century. Led by “junior interpreters” and coordinated by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, half-hour guided tours “for kids, by kids,” based on this description, take visitors back in time to experience the house as it had been used from the Wright family during Christmas.

When: Saturday, December 8 and 15, 2012, from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. (30-minute excursions)
Location: Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Avenue, Oak Park, Illinois
Cost: Free. An adult should accompany children under 8.

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Throughout Wright’s time, strands of lights weren’t utilised to decorate the house’s exterior. Fresh green garland dresses up the windows and front entrance.

The outside design of the home illustrates Wright’s use of geometry in his designs.

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In 1889 Wright designed and constructed the home for himself and his bride, Catherine Tobin. The first floor contains the living room, dining room and kitchen, including the built-in benches that Wright introduced to contemporary home design. His use of built-ins created for deliberate, controlled seats; there wasn’t any need for additional furniture.

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Most homes throughout the 1890s were boxed in and closed off, but this entryway leads to a open floor plan. Wright chose to focus on a very simple design aesthetic and highlighted using horizontal lines.

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Large glass panels at the foyer allow light to the entryway, highlighting the open floor plan. The marble relief in the joint of this wall and ceiling was ordered from a catalog throughout the early 20th century.

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A reddish knitted scarf and mittens from the front door offer a subtle reminder of this holiday season.

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Catherine would make each of the fresh, natural arrangements for your holidays. The couple often placed presents for the children on the seats built into the fireplace inglenook.

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As the family grew, the need for more space became apparent. Wright transformed the kitchen to this formal dining room during a major renovation in 1895, designing the dining room for a space within a space. The proper arrangement of this light fixture centers the room, while the high chair backs define the dining area. Two of the eight chairs are original and have never been restored.

A merry goddess, also generally made by Catherine, sat at the middle of the dining table throughout the holiday season.

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The second-floor playroom, inserted throughout the 1895 renovation, is where the children learned to play devices and place on musicals.

It was normal for a grand 12-foot tree to be in the middle of this high-ceilinged room throughout the vacations. Wright disliked attics and basements and chose not to set them in his property. The family lit the trees with candles, and the children weren’t allowed into the room until Wright was completed lighting the tree. A bucket of water was constantly put next to the tree in the event of a fire.

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Wright often wrapped little gifts in large boxes to throw off the children course. Unlike the oversize boot-like stockings seen and used today, actual stockings hung over the fireplace.

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Relatives would often gather around the tree through the holidays to dance and sing. The children performed from the gallery over while guests observed from below.

Handmade garlands made out of popcorn and cranberries were typical decorations of this time.

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Together with the growth of his loved ones and his home in 1895, Wright forfeited his very first home studio and made it into two bedrooms to his children. A wall split the space into boys’ and girls’ rooms, and the children shared with the rooms, but not all six inhabited the rooms in the same times. Due to this children’s age differences, some were away in boarding school while others were in the home.

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Here we see that the Wright design aesthetic of removing the loft and expanding the ceiling. The dividing wall of the children’s room was lofted rather than brought all the way to the top.

Cynthia Lynn Photography

Cynthia Lynn Photography

The children decorated their rooms with handmade paper snowflakes and colorful paper chains.

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The corridor to Wright’s studio was part of this addition in 1898. The hallway was constructed around an existing tree, later eliminated; a replica of this tree along with a photograph remain in the space. To the left is the entryway to the first degree of this studio, and straight ahead is a set of stairs leading to the second-floor balcony.

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The two-story studio was the first of its type to house architects and designers in one space. The marrying of the two gave way to a number of the greatest designs of Wright’s time, including the Robie House, along with the arrival of the Prairie style of architecture.

The decorative chains at the studio weren’t just decorative but also structural. The horizontals held the walls with each other, along with the verticals maintained the balcony raised. Subtracting beams to your balcony created more space.

Throughout the vacations Wright also decorated his studio with a lot of his kids ‘ paper chains.

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Throughout the excursions on December 8 and 15, 2012, the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust Preservation allows children into the studio to play with Froebel blocks. These distinctive blocks influenced Wright’s use of geometry in his design.

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Wright consciously chose to have a studio in your home to make his work life nearer to his life.

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Wright often opted to purchase all of his six children the exact same gift — bicycles, musical instruments — presumably to avoid disagreements.

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On screen during the excursions are presents that the children may have received from Wright.

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The kitchen was also extended throughout the 1895 renovation and is staged the way it could have looked for the Wright family. A turkey was served for Christmas dinner, and the children made candies and cookies from the kitchen. Not all the pieces in the room are first, but the setting offers a fantastic notion of how it might have looked throughout the holiday season.

Cynthia Lynn Photography

Cynthia Lynn Photography

The outside of the studio can be decorated with an easy, new garland.

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The facade of this studio is rather different in the home. Wright wanted to make sure that when clients entered, they were entering his studio rather than his property. He’d fulfilled his desire to become near home, but he wanted to make certain company had been maintained company.

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More: What Frank Lloyd Wright’s Own House Tells Us

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