The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries

I'm and architect and live in a modern Prairie House. I have been intrigued with the Prairie "school" and related architectural styles for most of my life. Many folks well understand FLLW's role in the movement and evolution of the style which he deserves, but few of us have the full story. It may have begun with Wright and Sullivan, but there were numerous important players in the style who get proper recognition from Brook's well researched and documented book. Brooks detailed review of the subject helps put the movement into clear focus. This book allows one to see beyond Wright to better understand the important role of Griffin, Mahoney and many other "Prairie Architects". The book is detailed and comprehensive, and deserves your read to better understand the who, what, where and when of Prairie Style in the US and world wide.

This is an exhaustive history of the Prairie School although it is somewhat academic and dry. Its primarily about the people clustered around Louis Sullivan and Frank LLoyd Wright and their diverse work in a couple of decades around the start of last century. It is not limited to domestic architecture that most now would consider to be 'Prairie Style' as it includes other domestic styles and structures such as banks, schools, churchs undertaken by these people.

Award-winning architecture scholar and former president of the Society of Architectural Historians H. Allen Brooks presents The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries, an in-depth discussion of the American architectural development and the "Prairie School", a regional manifestation of a forward-thinking reform movement in the visual arts. Inspired by Louis Sullivan and brought to fruition by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Prairie School sought to reinvent methods of architectural expression while retaining practicality, and often featured angular forms (much better than flat-topped forms in lands with heavy snowfall upon local roofs) and intricate interior designs. Illustrated with a copious amount of black-and-white photographs and diagrams, The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries draws heavily upon previously unpublished material, original documentation, and interviews to recount the course of the movement, including how and why it came into existence, its achievements, its foibles, and its unfortunate end. Highly recommended for architectural scholars and enthusiasts.

If you want a basic overview of the Midwestern architects who, along with Frank Lloyd Wright, were bringing about an entirely new kind of architecture in the early years of the 20th Century, then H. Allen Brooks' book is precisely what you need. Brooks takes time to explore the friends, associates, students, rivals, imitators and admirers of Mr. Wright's architectural idiom. There is also a fine overview of Louis Sullivan here. Many of them got it ... (one cannot resist the pun)... Wright. Many of them created homes and buildings that ought to be better known than they are. Many of them solved problems dealing with space and its enclosure so creatively that these buildings are still most pleasing, aesthetically. As the Century progressed, the Prairie School architecture met with a mixed fate. Some of these brilliant architects flamed out. Others used the vast abilities to create Spanish Revival or Tudor Revival buildings in the Twenties as well as those white Colonials with the picket fence. If one has ever wondered why, Brooks has an answer for that. One that may surprise you. It should be noted that Brooks is one of the architectural historians who mistakenly limit the contributions of Isabel Roberts, who was a draughtsman/architect in the Oak Park Studio and went on to design landmark buildings in Central Florida. He credits Isabel Roberts only with being "on the staff". Brooks cannot be faulted too much, having swallowed the red herring presented by Frank Lloyd Wright himself when writing about the Oak Park "...studio adjoining my home, where the work I had then to do enabled me to take in several draughtsmen and a faithful secretary, Isabel Roberts..." In future, Wright biographers would be wise to consult research done by John A. Dalles presented in his article, "The Pathbreaking Legacy of Ryan and Roberts", in "Reflections", the journal of the Historical Society of Central Florida, Summer 2009; pages 8 and 9. The book is profusely illustrated. Please understand that the many fine illustrations are presented in black and white. This will whet your appetite. Once you buy this book, you can use it as a research tool. For instance, you can then go on line and find color photos of many of the buildings represented, or additional information about specific architects. You will want to do that, because like a good smorgasbord, Brooks' book makes you hungry for more. And here is another idea. If you live in one of the places which were fortunate enough to have Wright or Sullivan or their followers at work...do what you can to make sure that these homes and other buildings are preserved. A shocking number of Walter Burley Griffin houses have been disappearing of late. If you have a voice speak up. If you have the wherewithall, why not buy and restore one of these gems? A dear friend of mine, a smart and engaging lady who has now gone to her eternal rest, was an original F LL W client and she told me more than once that

First let me say I am not an architect. I am interested enough in this design form to want to learn more about the history and designs of the Prairie School, and its impact on American architecture. I came across this book while looking for just such a review, yet I wanted to avoid wading through textbooks. What I found was a very readable and seemingly comprehensive review of the students of this movement, its background, and its philosophy. The history seems reasonably complete, well presented and ultimately interesting. The book's weakness is its inevitable superficial treatment of each individual's portfolio and their evolution; the student of architecture will want to have more detailed reference materials at hand. For the non-architect, this did create some difficulty in understanding how each of these creators related to each other. This then occassionally creates some dry reading. Overall, however, I have not yet found a better distillation of the Prairie School history. I enjoyed this book, and look forward to a trip to Chicago to investigate some of these architects' works.