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Modern Architecture
Getting it Wright: Today's Prairie Style
See how Frank Lloyd Wright and others continue to influence home design of our time
As the 19th century waned and the 20th century was dawning, a group of architects and designers in the Upper Midwest banded together to form the Prairie School. An entirely new approach to domestic design, the Prairie School featured a new language. Rooms made of four walls and small holes for windows were replaced with cantilevered roofs, floating planes, bands of windows and open corners to create spaces that would be all open and light and bright.
The most famous of the Prairie School architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, designed of such iconic houses as Robie, Willits, Coonley, Martin and more, Wright's designs served as the bases for the International Style and today's modernism. A line can be easily drawn from Wright to Mies to the best of today's modern aesthetic.
So in celebration of the Prairie School and the upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy conference, it's entirely appropriate that we take a look at this enduring style and see how it continues to influence domestic design in our time.
More: Visit Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpiece
The most famous of the Prairie School architects, Frank Lloyd Wright, designed of such iconic houses as Robie, Willits, Coonley, Martin and more, Wright's designs served as the bases for the International Style and today's modernism. A line can be easily drawn from Wright to Mies to the best of today's modern aesthetic.
So in celebration of the Prairie School and the upcoming Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy conference, it's entirely appropriate that we take a look at this enduring style and see how it continues to influence domestic design in our time.
More: Visit Fallingwater, a Frank Lloyd Wright Masterpiece
The Huertley House of 1902 designed by Frank Lloyd Wright represents an early Prairie style home. The hip roof with deep overhangs, emphasis on horizontal lines, ribbon windows and central chimney mass are all features of the style.
The open floor plan is evident here. No longer are the living room (or parlor) and dining room separated. The space flows from one "room" to the next as the ceiling delineates areas.
Simple yet richly stained wood, preferably quarter-sawn oak, and earth tones are hallmarks of a Prairie-style interior.
This new Prairie style home in California features hip roofs, casement windows tight to the underside of the roof overhang and trim to emphasize the horizontal. The angled, battered walls tie this home to the landscape in true Prairie fashion.
Here is a Texas variation on the Prairie style. The trademark hip roof with deep overhangs is a constant no matter the location of the style.
The layering one on top of the other in this home is a distinct variation on the Prairie style.
In today's updated Prairie style, the entrances often soar out to greet visitors.
A new Prairie style kitchen with beautiful woodwork.
Art glass windows, a trademark feature of the Prairie School, filter and transform light while eliminating the need for curtains and drapes.
With its broad overhang and corner window, this contemporary design owes much to the Prairie style.
The interior of the house also reveals Wright-inspired touches like the built-in seating next to the hearth and the corner window.
Deep overhang, large window areas, cantilever, etc. are all here in true Prairie School form updated for the 21st century.
More:
See more Wright and Wright-esque homes
Browse thousands of home design photos
Find an architect
More:
See more Wright and Wright-esque homes
Browse thousands of home design photos
Find an architect