Frederick C. Robie House - Chicago, Illinois

Frederick C. Robie House - Chicago, Illinois - Are you interested in architecture? Visit The Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his client Frederick C. Robie, is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture. 

Designed in Wright’s Oak Park studio in 1908 and completed in 1910, the building inspired an architectural revolution. Its sweeping horizontal lines, dramatic overhangs, stretches of art glass windows and open floor plan make it a quintessential Prairie style house. Although it was designed more than ninety years ago, the building remains a masterpiece of modern architecture.

The Robie House served as a private residence until 1926, when it was sold with all of its furnishings to the Chicago Theological Seminary, which used it as a dormitory. When the house was threatened by demolition in 1957, the 90-year-old Wright toured the house he had designed half a century earlier and pronounced it as beautiful as the day it was built. Fortunately, the Robie house was purchased later that year by Webb and Knapp, the development firm in charge of urban renewal in the surrounding Hyde Park neighborhood. In 1963 the house was donated by the firm to the University of Chicago–the same year it was designated a National Historic Landmark.

The seriously deteriorated Robie House is being restored to its original splendor by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust, according to the guidelines developed by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The 10-year, $8-million-plus project endeavors to preserve this icon of modern architecture as an architectural house museum, so future generations can experience its remarkable design and incredible spaces.

Location: 5757 South Woodlawn Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

Ticket Price:Frederick C. Robie House Combo Tour (combination of house tour and historic neighborhood tour) $16.00 - $20.00 if purchased at the book store, tours are scheduled to check to see which tours have availability.

Frederick C. Robie House Tour only: $10.00 - $12.00

Phone: 708.848.1976