Francis J. Woolley House

Infobox nrhp
name = Francis J. Woolley House
nrhp_type = cp

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caption =
location = Oak Park, Cook County, Illinois, USA
nearest_city =
lat_degrees = 41
lat_minutes = 53
lat_seconds = 35
lat_direction = N
long_degrees = 87
long_minutes = 48
long_seconds = 3
long_direction = W
area =
built = 1893Frank Lloyd Wright Architectural Guide Map, "Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust".]
architect =Frank Lloyd Wright
architecture = Queen Anne, Arts and Crafts
added = December 4 1973
visitation_num =
visitation_year =
refnum = 73000699
mpsub =
governing_body = Private ownerThe Francis J. Woolley House is located in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, a Chicago suburb. The house was designed by famous American architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1893. The Queen Anne style home is reflective of Wright's early designs for lower-cost, more affordable housing. The Woolley House is similar to the trio of homes in Oak Park that are widely known as the "bootleg houses." The design is heavily influenced by Wright's first teacher, Joseph Silsbee, and the Arts and Crafts movement. The house is listed as a contributing property to a local and federal historic district.

History

The Francis J. Woolley House was named for the lawyer for whom architect Frank Lloyd Wright originally designed it, Francis J. Woolley. Wright would later bring Woolley's son, Taylor, into his design studio.O'Gorman, Thomas J. Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago, Thunder Bay Press, San Diego: 2004, pp. 54–5, ISBN 1592231276.]

Architecture

The building's design has been called a "Queen Anne splendor," a style represented by the Woolley House's massive bay windows and projecting roof masses. Like other early Wright works, the design is much more conventional than later high-style examples of Wright's Prairie School such as the Heurtley House. "The New York Times" quipped in a 1996 article that the "two-story frame house with a hip roof that could almost pass for the vernacular architecture of the period."Goldberger, Paul. " [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D0DE1D91E39F930A35750C0A960958260 Wright's old neighborhood] ," "The New York Times", March 3 1996. Retrieved June 25 2007.] The design of the house is reminiscent of Wright's first teacher Joseph Silsbee and typical of Wright's early, low-cost residential designs. Its high-pitched, hip roof, polygonal and rectangular dormers, polygonal bay windows and wall foundations of rough stones are all reflections of Silsbee's picturesque manner of design." [http://www.oprf.com/flw/Woolley.html Francis J. Woolley House] ," "Oak Park Tourist", excerpted from: Sprague, Paul E. "Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright & Prarire School Architecture in Oak Park" Oak Park Bicentennial Commission of the American Revolution [and] Oak Park Landmarks Commission, Village of Oak Park: 1986, ISBN 0961691506. Retrieved June 25 2007.] On the home's southeast portion are its polygonal bay windows and due to a restoration the rough stone foundation walls are more enhanced than they once were. The original horizontal wooden clapboarding has been restored as well.

The house features an entry porch whose high-pitched hip roof echoes the main roof; its deep eaves repeats the pitch lines of the roof and gracefully frames the facade. The Woolley House sits back-to-back with the Robert P. Parker House, in turn nearby the Thomas Gale House, houses whose style the Woolley House closely reflects. The Woolley House is often considered part of the same series of homes that included the Parker and Gale Houses. Those homes, along with the Walter Gale House, and have become known as Frank Lloyd Wright's "bootleg houses," because he designed them in violation of his agreement with architect Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler.Heinz, Thomas A. The Vision of Frank Lloyd Wright, Chartwell Books, Inc., Edison, New Jersey: 2006, p. 55, ISBN 0785821457.] In this early Wright work the influence of Silsbee and the Arts and Crafts movement are heavily embedded in the design, which reflects Wright's passion for designing affordable housing. The home's soft earthen tones help to enhance the "comfortable house" feel of the Woolley House.

ignificance

This example of Frank Lloyd Wright's early work in Oak Park is considered a contributing property to the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District, a local and federal historic district." [http://gis.hpa.state.il.us/hargis Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District] ," Property Information Report-District Listing, HAARGIS Database, "Illinois Historic Preservation Agency". Retrieved June 25 2007.] The federal historic district was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 4 1973. [http://www.nr.nps.gov/ National Register Information System] , National Register of Historic Places, "National Park Service". Retrieved June 25 2007.]

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