Chicago

  Our art and Architecture tour had it's last stop in Chicago. More Frank Lloyd Wright, more art and a couple of random thoughts and photos.

 On our first day, we took a Chicago river walk on an extremely, hot sunny afternoon and saw some interesting architecture that wasn't FLW.

But truth of the matter was Chicago was sweltering so we mostly stayed in the shade, ate ice cream and conserved energy.

We got up early the next morning before it got too hot and headed out looking for more of why we went to Chicago.

Joani said that she found a lot of his work boxy and I won't deny this, but FLW was not as concerned with shape as functionality. The materials used in building, whenever possible had to be locally sourced keeping transportation costs down. Interior lighting had to come naturally as much as possible, (banks of windows) and the overhanging eaves would keep the direct sun off the same windows so the house would remain cooler in the summer to keep costs ( air conditioning) down.

This was where parts of the term "Organic architecture" came from.

Many of his houses had wild organic gardens which not only provided shade, but kept the air cleaner in a city environment.

In almost every instance he built with a purpose. Multiple windows with overhanging eaves to allow for natural lighting while keeping the house naturally cooler and walls erected almost to door height to keep wind away in the cooler months to make it cheaper and easier to heat.

Function over form but they all still look cool as far as I'm concerned.

So this is a cheat! It's not a Frank Lloyd Wright home, but I put it here for two purposes.

 #1 It is the perfect juxtaposition to show where American architecture was, before Frank Lloyd Wright came along.

  #2  It's the birth place of Ernest Hemingway, which I hadn't known was Chicago, before Joani and I stumbled across this place in our FLW residential tour.

So that's the end of our second last day in the windy city. I'm going to do one last post for this trip to show our second time back at the Art Institute of Chicago, and then, in my mind this trip will be officially over.