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96-440: Robie House has received city, state, national, and international recognition for its architectural significance as one of the great buildings of the twentieth century. In 1963, Robie House was designated a National Historic Landmark , the first in the city of Chicago and the first to be selected based on architectural merit alone. In 1966, Robie House was listed on the first National Register of Historic Places . In 1971, Robie House

192-516: A 1900 graduate of the University of Chicago, had selected the property at 5757 South Woodlawn Avenue in order to remain close to the campus and the social life of the university. The property was a typical urban lot in Hyde Park, measuring 60 feet (18 m) by 180 feet (55 m). The contractor for the project, H.B. Barnard Co. of Chicago, began construction on April 15, 1909. Wright did not supervise

288-639: A 1957 article in House and Home magazine: During the decades of eclecticism's triumph there were also many innovators—less heralded than the fashionable practitioners, but exerting more lasting influence. Of these innovators, none could rival Frank Lloyd Wright. By any standard his Robie house was the House of the 1900s—indeed the House of the Century. Above all else, the Robie House is a magnificent work of art. But, in addition,

384-669: A Chicago arm of the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students. His work to help theological students better understand and minister to physically, mentally , and emotionally ill people ultimately led to the founding of the Association for Clinical Pastoral Education . Boisen's ashes are interred in the CTS cloisters. In 1957, as the American civil rights movement escalated, CTS became

480-418: A coat closet and back stairway, the boiler room, laundry room, and coal storage room, followed by a small workshop, half bath, and a three-car garage. The westernmost bay of the garage originally contained a mechanic's pit, and the easternmost bay contained equipment to wash and clean automobiles. On the second floor of the minor vessel is a guest bedroom above the entrance hall and an adjoining full bath. East of

576-668: A graduate certificate and an accredited Master of Divinity in Islamic Chaplaincy at the seminary's Hyde Park campus.     The original buildings were designed by Herbert Riddle and built between 1923 and 1928. Riddle was the architect for Mather Tower in the Loop, as well as many buildings in New York. The original CTS building complex included stained glass windows, medieval style groin vaulting, furniture, lighting fixtures, ceramic ornament and tile work, and architectural relics—all of

672-496: A home for Americans that can stand the test of international comparison. When his work was published in a sumptuous monograph in Berlin, Germany, in 1910, it was the design of the Robie House that caught everyone's eye. European builders had been enmeshed in their dependence on historical forms. Wright and the Robie House of 1908 showed them the way to the fundamental patterns of modern architectural expression. So much so, in fact, that even

768-549: A manufacturer of Christmas collectibles and giftware, produced a Robie House model as part of its popular series of Christmas villages. The item was discontinued in 2018. [t]he real American spirit, capable of judging an issue for itself upon its merits, lies in the West and Middle West, where breadth of view, independent thought, and a tendency to take common sense into the realm of art, as in life, are more characteristic. ... The people themselves are part and parcel and helpful in producing

864-409: A new seminary building at 60th Street and Dorchester Avenue. The seminary's new building, designed by Nagle Hartray Architecture , is located at 1407 E. 60th Street and is LEED Gold-certified and fully ADA accessible. By 2013, the building project had acquired numerous private and public funds. The Robinson & Janet Lapp Learning Commons, centrally located on the third floor of CTS's new building,

960-445: A practice was unknown at that time, this curriculum was the beginning of the first field education component introduced into seminary education. Field education is now a part of every accredited professional theological degree program. Because of a conviction that training for ministry needed to combine the study of Christian faith and the world of secular knowledge and action, during President Ozora Davis' tenure in 1900s, CTS moved to

1056-656: A professor of theology at Hartford Theological Seminary in Connecticut who had shown success in working with the poor, to establish the United States’ first Department of Christian Sociology at CTS. Taylor worked closely with leading Chicago activist Jane Addams , founder of Hull House , an American settlement house . Taylor established the Chicago Commons settlement house in Chicago's Fulton Market neighborhood, where with

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1152-457: A result of the historical fame of the house.) Robie's original budget had been $ 60,000. Robie's tenure in his home was short-lived. As a result of financial problems incurred by the death of his father in July 1908, who was plagued by gambling debts that Robie unknowingly inherited (allegedly totaling roughly $ 1 million, or the equivalent of $ 27 million today) and the deterioration of his marriage, Robie

1248-404: A sharp contrast to the dark entrance hall, making the living and dining rooms seem even more special. These two rooms are separated by the central chimney mass, but the spaces are connected along their south sides, and the chimney mass has an opening above the fireplace through which the rooms are visually connected. These features unite the two spaces, creating an openness of plan which, for Wright,

1344-567: Is a Christian ecumenical American seminary located in Chicago , Illinois , and is one of several seminaries historically affiliated with the United Church of Christ . It is the oldest institution of higher education in Chicago, originally established in 1855 under the direction of the abolitionist Stephen Peet and the Congregational Church (now the United Church of Christ ) by charter of

1440-580: Is a working theological collection of more than 45,000 volumes. The library also subscribes to more than 700 periodicals and runs multiple research database platforms. Special holdings include the Boisen Collection in psychology and personality science, and the Campbell Morgan Collection named for G. Campbell Morgan , containing his sermons, writings, books, newspaper clips, lecture notes, photographs, and other archival materials. The Commons

1536-475: Is also home to a number of rare books, including a 1670 first quarto edition of Thomas Hobbes ’ Leviathan published in London by Johannem Tomsoni. The collection is strong in the theological subject areas of Bible , Church history , and theology . Particular fields of note also include African American religion and spirituality, women's studies , LGBT/queer studies , and Jewish and Christian studies. Besides

1632-404: Is approximately 9,062 square feet (841.9 m). The chimney mass containing four fireplaces—one in the billiards room, playroom, living room and master bedroom—and the main stairway from the entrance hall to the second floor living and dining rooms rise through the center of the house, from which the rest of the building radiates. The chimney mass is constructed of the same brick and limestone as

1728-604: Is especially welcoming to gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, and intersex concerns. In 2007, CTS established the Center for the Study of Black Faith and Life (CSBFL), becoming the first denominational seminary to have a center devoted to engaging the larger Black Faith community through inclusivity of a variety of religions. CSBFL sponsors the annual C. Shelby Rooks lecture, which brings outstanding black theologians, ministers, activists, and non-profit leaders to campus. In 2009, CTS became

1824-420: Is for many Americans the finest work of art turned out by any of our architects in our history as a nation. In this house Wright blends the sonorous long lines of the machinelike form with a rich decorative effect that is ages old. Both the old and the new come together in this adult prairie house. Here for the first time since the days of our great colonial builders--Bulfinch, Jefferson, and McIntire--a man creates

1920-795: Is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500, or roughly three percent, of over 90,000 places listed on the country's National Register of Historic Places are recognized as National Historic Landmarks. A National Historic Landmark District sometimes called a National Historical Park may include more than one National Historic Landmark and contributing properties that are buildings, structures, sites or objects, and it may include non-contributing properties. Contributing properties may or may not also be separately listed or registered. Prior to 1935, efforts to preserve cultural heritage of national importance were made by piecemeal efforts of

2016-671: Is owned by the University of Chicago and is regularly open to the public as a historic house museum operated and maintained by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. Wright designed the Robie House in his studio in Oak Park, Illinois between 1908 and 1909. The design precedent for the Robie House was the Ferdinand F. Tomek House in Riverside, Illinois, designed by Wright in 1907–08. At the time that he commissioned Wright to design his home, Robie

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2112-451: Is quite impossible to consider the building one thing and its furnishings another. ... They are all mere structural details of its character and completeness." The projecting cantilevered roof eaves, continuous bands of art-glass windows, and the use of Roman brick emphasize the horizontal, which had rich associations for Wright. The horizontal line reminded him of the American prairie and

2208-527: Is the subject of a 2013 PBS documentary and companion book, "10 Buildings that Changed America." In celebration of the 2018 Illinois Bicentennial, the Robie House was selected as one of the Illinois 200 Great Places by the American Institute of Architects Illinois component, AIA Illinois. At the time Robie House was commissioned in 1908, the lots surrounding the house's site were mostly vacant except for

2304-526: The Adlai E. Stevenson Institute of International Affairs, and later the building served as the headquarters for the University's Alumni Association. On September 15, 1971, the Commission on Chicago Landmarks , with the support of Mayor Richard J. Daley , declared the Robie House a Chicago landmark. In January 1997 the University moved their offices out and turned over tours, operations, fundraising and restoration to

2400-602: The Becker Friedman Institute for Research in Economics . Construction of the new $ 30 million CTS facility was a partnership between the University of Chicago and the Chicago Theological Seminary. In May 2008, the University of Chicago Board of Trustees Executive Committee authorized the purchase of two CTS buildings and an adjacent parking lot. Additionally, the University of Chicago agreed to construct

2496-844: The Historic American Buildings Survey amassed information about culturally and architecturally significant properties in a program known as the Historic Sites Survey. Most of the designations made under this legislation became National Historic Sites , although the first designation, made December 20, 1935, was for a National Memorial , the Gateway Arch National Park (then known as the Jefferson National Expansion Memorial) in St. Louis , Missouri. The first National Historic Site designation

2592-480: The InterReligious Institute (IRI), which stands counter to the idea that Christianity is the “normal” religious position for Americans and seeks to create space in the public square for people of other religions and for people with no religion. IRI does this by providing ongoing events, resources, and training materials for the public. In 2019, CTS began a partnership with Bayan Claremont to provide both

2688-764: The Susan Lawrence Dana House in Springfield, Illinois, the Avery Coonley House in Riverside, Illinois, and the Meyer May House in Grand Rapids, Michigan, to continue their work on the project. Niedecken's influence can be seen in the design of some of the furnishings for the house as well as the carpets in the entrance hall, the living room, and the dining room. The Robie family—Frederick, Laura, and their two children, Frederick Jr. and Lorraine—moved into

2784-606: The United States Congress . In 1935, Congress passed the Historic Sites Act , which authorized the interior secretary authority to formally record and organize historic properties, and to designate properties as having "national historical significance", and gave the National Park Service authority to administer historically significant federally owned properties. Over the following decades, surveys such as

2880-575: The University of Chicago School of Social Service Administration . In the 1920s, Anton Boisen , a pioneer in the hospital chaplaincy movement and founder of the Council for the Clinical Training of Theological Students, began lecturing every fall quarter in the social ethics department of CTS. In 1932, he became chaplain of Elgin State Hospital (now Elgin Mental Health Center ) and founded

2976-819: The 50 states. New York City alone has more NHLs than all but five states: Virginia , California , Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, and New York, the latter of which has the most NHLs of all 50 states. There are 74 NHLs in the District of Columbia . Some NHLs are in U.S. commonwealths and territories, associated states, and foreign states . There are 15 in Puerto Rico , the Virgin Islands , and other U.S. commonwealths and territories ; five in U.S.-associated states such as Micronesia ; and one in Morocco . Over 100 ships or shipwrecks have been designated as NHLs. Approximately half of

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3072-475: The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust on February 1. In 2002, the Trust began restoration of the house to its original 1910 appearance, when construction completed and the house best reflected the design intent of the architect and client. Harboe Architects, a firm experienced in historic preservation, conducted an assessment, prepared plans for restoration, and led the interior restoration. The Trust follows guidelines developed by

3168-544: The Illinois legislature. In addition to being a seminary of the United Church of Christ, CTS offers students coursework necessary to be ordained by the Metropolitan Community Church denomination. It was the first theological school to introduce the field education experience into a seminary curriculum, the first to create a distinct Department of Christian Sociology in an American theological school, and

3264-590: The Lapp Learning Commons, CTS students also have access to the University of Chicago Library system, the 11th largest library collection in the United States. CTS students and faculty can use this resource in person. The seminary is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada and the Higher Learning Commission . In addition to being a seminary of

3360-681: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer ( LGBTQ ) Religious Studies Center (Queer Center), a grant-funded research program and resource for activists seeking to move toward greater justice and to encourage new conversations. CTS is also home to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender Religious Archives Network, and the seminary's Heyward Boswell Society for LGBTQ people and allies engages students across campus in social activities. CTS also offers an annual Gilberto Castaneda scholarship award for outstanding GLBT students. CTS has graduated some of

3456-475: The Master of Divinity in 2000 in recognition of his life's work. During the 1960s, John W. de Gruchy , a white South African theologian who later became known for his work resisting Apartheid, attended CTS. In 1965, CTS began a Doctorate of Religion program, one of the first professional doctorates in ministry. As standards for the professional doctorate were established by the Association of Theological Schools ,

3552-634: The National Historic Landmarks are privately owned . The National Historic Landmarks Program relies on suggestions for new designations from the National Park Service, which also assists in maintaining the landmarks . A friends' group of owners and managers, the National Historic Landmark Stewards Association, works to preserve, protect and promote National Historic Landmarks. If not already listed on

3648-796: The National Register of Historic Places, an NHL is automatically added to the Register upon designation; about three percent of Register listings are NHLs. Washington, D.C. is home to three specifically legislated exceptions to this rule: the White House , the United States Capitol , and the United States Supreme Court Building . All are designated as NHLs, but are not on the National Register. Chicago Theological Seminary The Chicago Theological Seminary ( CTS )

3744-548: The National Register, or as an NHL) often triggered local preservation laws, legislation in 1980 amended the listing procedures to require owner agreement to the designations. On October 9, 1960, 92 places, properties, or districts were announced as eligible to be designated NHLs by U.S. Secretary of the Interior Fred A. Seaton . Agreements of owners or responsible parties were subsequently obtained, but all 92 have since been considered listed on that 1960 date. The origins of

3840-532: The Robie House among the Top All-Time Work of American Architects. In 2008, the U.S. National Park Service submitted the Robie House, along with nine other Frank Lloyd Wright properties, to a tentative list for World Heritage Status. The 10 sites have been submitted as one entire site. More recently, in July 2012, then- Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar announced that he would formally nominate

3936-673: The Robie House and ten other Wright designed buildings as U.S. nominations for World Heritage status. The final decision on inclusion on the list was made by the World Heritage Committee, composed of representatives from 21 nations and advised by the International Council on Monuments and Sites. After revised proposals, the properties were inscribed on the World Heritage List under the title " The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright " in July 2019. Robie House

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4032-578: The Robie House at 5737 Woodlawn Avenue, and the Seminary was already the owner of the lot between the two properties. The Phi Delts offered to vacate their house, and the Zeta Beta Tau fraternity, located next to the Phi Delt house, offered to vacate their house as well. These offers were a turning point in the effort to save the Robie House, since the three properties provided the Seminary with sufficient land for

4128-629: The Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The restoration was completed in 2019, costing over 11 million dollars. After major structural steel restoration, exterior brick work, and installation of modern mechanical systems, the restoration focused on the interiors elements, such as woodwork, glass, and furniture. The Robie House is one of the best known examples of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie style of architecture. The term

4224-452: The Seminary announced plans to demolish the house on September 15 in order to begin the construction of a dormitory for its students. This time an international outcry arose, and Wright himself, then almost 90 years old, returned to the Robie House on March 18, accompanied by the media, students and neighborhood organizers to protest the intended demolition of the house. Commenting on the threatened demolition, Wright quipped, "It all goes to show

4320-431: The Seminary was moving ahead with a plan to demolish the house and informed his instructors, including Ludwig Mies van der Rohe . The threat of demolition aroused a storm of protest. Although the Seminary's plans were subsequently postponed, the crisis was averted more by the onset of World War II than by acquiescence of the property's owner. The most serious threat to the Robie House arose 16 years later. On March 1, 1957,

4416-485: The United States secretary of the interior because they are: More than 2,500 NHLs have been designated. Most, but not all, are in the United States. There are NHLs in all 50 states and the national capital of Washington, D.C. Three states ( Pennsylvania , Massachusetts , and New York ) account for nearly 25 percent of the nation's NHLs. Three cities within these states, Philadelphia , Boston , and New York City , respectively, all separately have more NHLs than 40 of

4512-666: The Uruguayan-born architect Rafael Viñoly and completed in 2004, the building both respects the scale of the Robie House and contains elements that echo Wright's contributions to the vocabulary of modern architecture. Robie House figures prominently in the children's mystery novel The Wright 3 , written by Blue Balliett and published by Scholastic Books in 2006. The book is illustrated by Brett Helquist. The fictional story involves three Hyde Park children and their attempt to save Robie House from destruction. The book has introduced numerous young readers to Frank Lloyd Wright and has been

4608-402: The appearance of individual bricks. The design of the art-glass windows is an abstract pattern of colored and clear glass using 30 and 60-degree angles. Wright used similar designs in tapestries inside the house and for gates surrounding the outdoor spaces and enclosing the garage courtyard. Robie's generous budget allowed Wright to design a house with a largely steel structure, which accounts for

4704-678: The attention of students of the Bauhaus school in Germany and the De Stijl school in the Netherlands. Ludwig Mies van der Rohe , among other great 20th Century architects, claimed Wright was a major influence on their careers. Mies van der Rohe later visited the Robie House and Wright's home ( Taliesin ) in Spring Green, Wisconsin . The architectural significance of the Robie House was probably best stated in

4800-411: The back stairway are the kitchen and butler's pantry, and the servants' sitting room. Two bedrooms and a full bathroom above the garage complete the quarters for the live-in servants. The third floor overlaps the major and minor vessels in the center of the building. Wright referred to the third floor as the "belvedere," the "place in command of beautiful views." The south side of the third floor contains

4896-425: The building and open through a series of twelve French doors containing art glass panels to an exterior balcony running the length of the south side of the building that overlooks the enclosed garden. The west end of the living room contains a " prow " with art glass windows and two art glass doors that open onto the west porch beneath the cantilevered roof. Wright intended that the users of the building move freely from

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4992-402: The building. Another door from the playroom opens into the courtyard on the east end of the site. On the second floor are the entry hall at the top of the central stairway, the living room (west end) and the dining room (east end). Built-in inglenook bench cabinetry originally separated the entry hallway from the living room. The living and dining rooms flow into one another along the south side of

5088-587: The cantilevers of the exterior roof of the building, which effectively create side tables on each side of the sofa. The Wright-designed sofa has been on loan since 1982 from the Smart Museum to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and is on display as part of the furnishings in the reconstructed living room of the Francis W. Little House (1915) located in the museum. Miniature cantilevers can also be found in

5184-414: The characteristic gold wall sconces. (A janitor discovered Wright's handcrafted rocking chair discarded in a trash heap and saved it. Years later, the janitor contacted the University of Chicago when the museum opened and gifted the chair to Robie House, where it is currently on display in one of the bedrooms.) In 1941, a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology accidentally discovered that

5280-722: The chimney mass, and the structurally expressive piers and windows, established a new form of domestic design." Because the house's components are so well designed and coordinated, it is considered to be a quintessential example of Wright's Prairie School architecture and the "measuring stick" against which all other Prairie School buildings are compared. The house and the Robie name were immortalized in Ernst Wasmuth's famous 1910 publication Ausgefuhrte Bauten und Entwurfe von Frank Lloyd Wright ( Completed Buildings and Projects of Frank Lloyd Wright , a.k.a. "The Wasmuth Portfolio"). This publication featured most of Wright's designs, including those unbuilt, during his Oak Park years and brought them to

5376-454: The civil rights movement full time. He went on to found Operation PUSH (People United to Serve Humanity), a Chicago counterpart to the southern civil rights movement that focused on the economic empowerment of African-Americans and poor people of all races, and the Rainbow Coalition , which worked to unite disenfranchised American groups, from racial minorities to small farmers, in order to exercise political power. CTS ultimately awarded Jackson

5472-444: The construction of the house except in the earliest stages. He closed his Oak Park studio in the fall of 1909 and left for Europe to undertake the work that led to the publication of the Wasmuth Portfolio . He turned over his existing commissions to Hermann von Holst , who retained Marion Mahony , a draughtswoman in Wright's office, and George Mann Niedecken , an interior designer from Milwaukee, Wisconsin who had worked with Wright on

5568-402: The danger of entrusting anything spiritual to the clergy." Two fraternities at the University of Chicago provided the Seminary with a realistic alternative to its plans of demolition. During his very brief tenure as a student at the University of Wisconsin, Wright had been a member of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity. The University of Chicago's Phi Delt chapter house was located two doors north of

5664-431: The dormitory they sought to build. In August 1958, William Zeckendorf , a friend of Wright's and a New York real estate developer then involved in several development projects on Chicago's south side, at Wright's urging acquired the Robie House from the Seminary through his development company Webb and Knapp . In February 1963, Zeckendorf donated the building to the University of Chicago. The University used Robie House as

5760-401: The drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. A close associate of King, Schomer in March, 1965 led a contingent of CTS students that included scholarship recipient Jesse Jackson, Sr. to Selma, Alabama , to march with local residents against segregation . Jackson dropped out of the Master of Divinity program just three courses short of degree completion in order to work on

5856-454: The end of slavery nor to tolerate those who defended it. Under his leadership, the seminary was active in the Underground Railroad and was a leading voice in the Christian Abolitionism movement. The first CTS curriculum in 1855 was provided for students among congregations and missions across the Midwest. Students were encouraged to learn by direct experience the facts of community life and church needs in an experimental culture. Although such

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5952-431: The explanation for why the entire house was not furnished with furniture of Wright's designs. Most of the original furniture is currently in the collection of the Smart Museum of Art at the University of Chicago, although only the dining room table and chairs are on more or less permanent display. One of the most striking pieces of the furniture designed by Wright for the Robie House is a sofa with extended armrests, echoing

6048-416: The exterior. The front door and main entrance is partially hidden on the northwest side of the building beneath an overhanging balcony in order to create a sense of privacy and protection for the family. The entrance hall itself is low-ceilinged and dark, but the stairs to the second floor create a sense of anticipation as the visitor moves upward. Once upstairs, the light filled living and dining rooms create

6144-450: The extremes of cubistic modern architecture, the "cigar-box covered with cold-cream" style may be traced back to the influence of Wright's Robie House. Kienitz, John Fabian, "Fifty-Two Years of Frank Lloyd Wright's Progressivism," The Wisconsin Magazine of History, Vol. 29, No. 1 (Sept. 1945), p. 64. National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark ( NHL ) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that

6240-429: The first National Historic Landmark was a simple cedar post, placed by the Lewis and Clark Expedition on their 1804 outbound trek to the Pacific in commemoration of the death from natural causes of Sergeant Charles Floyd . The cedar plank was later replaced by a 100 ft (30 m) marble obelisk. The Sergeant Floyd Monument in Sioux City, Iowa , was officially designated on June 30, 1960. NHLs are designated by

6336-596: The first free-standing Protestant seminary to endow a faculty chair in Jewish studies, with the hope of advancing interfaith engagement and multi-faith education. The next year, CTS founded the Center for Jewish, Christian, and Islamic Studies (JCIS), the first American program of its kind based in a free-standing theological seminary. This center offers resources to students who concentrate in theology, ethics, and human sciences that enable scholars to experientially and theoretically integrate Jewish, Christian, and Muslim theology with these topics. In 2017, CTS established

6432-411: The first seminary in the United States to award Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King an Honorary Doctor of Divinity degree in recognition of his activism. Two years later CTS alumnus Howard Schomer , who had received his doctorate of divinity from CTS in 1954, became president of the seminary. Schomer was a conscientious objector and former aide to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights who had assisted in

6528-415: The first seminary to award a degree in divinity to a woman in the United States (Florence Fensham, 1902). Unintimidated by controversy, Chicago Theological Seminary has a record of setting trends in American faith life and leadership for more than a century. In the 1850s and 1860s, CTS founder Stephen Peet was a leader in a new generation of 19th-century American abolitionists no longer content to wait for

6624-462: The help of CTS students he brought recreational clubs, classes, a day nursery, and a kindergarten to the working poor. The house had 25 residents and was open to all ethnic groups and religious denominations. Pressed for space, the Chicago Commons moved a few blocks north to the building formerly occupied by the Chicago Congregational Tabernacle, where Taylor expanded the courses offered into the Chicago School of Civics and Philanthropy, which later became

6720-428: The highest quality of the day. The seminary, which was for decades located at 5757 South University Avenue in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, adjacent to the University of Chicago, during the 2011/2012 academic year moved to 1407 East 60th Street, also in Hyde Park. The building designed by Riddle that had served as a seminary for decades became home to the Department of Economics at the University of Chicago and

6816-524: The home in May 1910, although all of the final details, including rugs and furniture, were not completed until January 1911. The final cost of the home was $ 58,500: $ 13,500 for the land, $ 35,000 for the design and construction of the building, and $ 10,000 for the furnishings. (Simple inflation adjusted equivalents of $ 58,500 in 1910 hover around $ 1.5 million in 2015, although other ways of comparing price and value over time could place that figure as high as $ 10 million without accounting for any potential premium as

6912-521: The house introduced so many concepts in planning and construction that its full influence cannot be measured accurately for many years to come. Without this house, much of modern architecture as we know it today, might not exist. In 1956, Archectural Record selected the Robie House as "one of the seven most notable residences ever built in America." In 1991, the American Institute of Architects named

7008-414: The house, as "the major vessel." On the first floor are the "billiards" room (west end) and children's playroom (east end). The billiards room provided access to a large walk-in safe and a storage area built underneath the front porch projection at the west end of the site. The billiards and playroom open into a small passage, and doors near the center of the building to an enclosed garden on the south side of

7104-409: The interior space to the exterior space. The rectangle on the northeast portion of the site, called "the minor vessel," contains the more functional and service-related rooms of the house. On the first floor is the main door and entrance hall (west end) from which a stairway leads to the second floor living and dining rooms. A half bath is located on the north side of the entrance hall. Further east are

7200-520: The last family to occupy the house, living there for fourteen years. In June 1926, the Wilbers sold the house and its contents to the Chicago Theological Seminary , which used the house as a dormitory and dining hall, though it was primarily interested in the site for purposes of future expansion. Consequently, Robie House suffered major interior damage, including the destruction of nearly all

7296-411: The living and dining rooms, as well as soffit lighting in the prows of the living and dining rooms, are covered with Wright-designed wooden grilles, backed with translucent colored glass diffusers. Because these lights are all independently operable, different effects can be created within these spaces. Finally, a Wright-designed table lamp with an art glass shade stood on a Wright-designed library table in

7392-444: The living room. Wright designed the furniture, carpets, and textiles for most Prairie houses. However, Wright-designed furniture in the Robie House was only constructed for the entrance hall, the living and dining rooms, guest bedroom, and one bed for the third-floor bedrooms. Some of these pieces are attributed to Wright's interior design collaborator George Mann Niedecken. Robie's financial situation following his father's death may be

7488-529: The lots immediately to the north on Woodlawn Avenue, which were filled with large homes. To the east of the site and across a municipal service alley, a French Provincial style house for Nobel prize winning physicist Albert A. Michelson was built around 1923. The lots to the south were vacant and afforded uninterrupted views to the Midway Plaisance parkland, one of the sites of the World's Columbian Exposition . To

7584-420: The master bedroom, dressing area, a full bathroom, and, through a small closet and an art glass door, a balcony facing south and west. Two additional bedrooms and a full bathroom are located on the north side of this floor. All of the windows on this level contain art glass panels. Dresser drawers are built into the walls of the bedrooms underneath the windows, and project into the eave spaces. The entire building

7680-400: The minimal deflection of the eaves. The planter urns, copings, lintels, sills and other exterior trim are of Bedford limestone , while the roof of the building features Ludowici tile . In plan, the house is designed as two large rectangles that seem to slide by one another. Mr. Wright referred to the rectangle on the southwest portion of the site, which contains the principal living spaces of

7776-415: The nation's first transgender ministers and has many openly gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender students, staff, and faculty. Several of the seminary's faculty members have published books and articles regarding religion, sexual orientation, and gender identity. The United Church of Christ Coalition for GLBT Concerns lists Chicago Theological Seminary as an officially " Open and Affirming " institution that

7872-413: The open plan Wright favored. Throughout the house, Wright-designed wall sconces can be found in the shape of a hemispherical shade suspended beneath a square bronze fixture. On the second floor living and dining rooms, spherical globes within wooden squares are integrated into the ceiling trim, further tying the two spaces together visually. Soffit lighting running the length of the north and south sides of

7968-412: The organic thing. They can comprehend it and make it theirs, and it is thus the only form art expression to be considered for a democracy, and I will go so far as to say, the truest of all forms. Wright's Winslow House of 1893 was already a synthesis of the practical with the beautiful in home building. By 1908 he was able to bring about, in the Robie House on the campus of the University of Chicago, what

8064-482: The seminary became one of the initial group of six schools to have fully accredited programs of study for the Doctor of Ministry degree. In the 1980s, CTS engaged in the anti-Apartheid movement advocating for the divestment of resources from South Africa . In 1986, the seminary awarded Archbishop Desmond Tutu an honorary Doctor of Divinity degree for his activism to liberate black South Africans. In 2006, CTS launched

8160-402: The shelves of the built-in dining room buffet and a food preparation island in the kitchen. The Robie House was one of the last houses Wright designed in his Oak Park, Illinois home and studio and also one of the last of his Prairie School houses. According to the Historic American Buildings Survey , the Commission on Chicago Landmarks stated: "The bold interplay of horizontal planes about

8256-468: The subject of special events and tours at the house. In 2011, Lego introduced a 2,276-piece model of the Robie House under its Lego Architecture line of products (set number 21010). It was the third Wright building to be featured in the series after Fallingwater and the Guggenheim Museum . The set has since been discontinued and become a collector's item among Lego enthusiasts. Department 56 ,

8352-572: The vicinity of the University of Chicago . Under Ozora Davis' leadership the buildings of the seminary were financed and constructed, and the relationship with the University of Chicago established. After recognizing Florence Fensham with the first American seminary degree awarded to a woman, Chicago Theological Seminary founded the Congregational Training School for Women in 1909 to provide Congregational women with advanced educational training. The school continued its mission until it

8448-519: The west, a full block of vacant land separated the site from the growing University of Chicago campus, but by 1930 Rockefeller Chapel (1928), the Chicago Theological Seminary (1928), and the Oriental Institute (1930) buildings had been constructed. Directly south across 58th Street from Robie House is the Charles M. Harper Center of the University of Chicago Booth School of Business . Designed by

8544-510: Was a line of repose and shelter, appropriate for a house. The exterior walls are double- wythe construction of a Chicago common brick core with a red-orange iron-spotted Roman brick veneer. To further emphasize the horizontal of the bricks, the horizontal joints were filled with a cream-colored mortar and the small vertical joints were filled with brick-colored mortar. From a distance, this complex and expensive tuckpointing creates an impression of continuous lines of horizontal color and minimizes

8640-583: Was a metaphor for the openness of American political and social life. Steel beams in the ceilings and floors carry most of the building's weight to piers at the east and west ends. As a result, the exterior walls have little structural function, and thus are filled with doors and windows containing 174 art glass panels in 29 different designs. Instead of stylized forms from Nature, a favorite Wright motif, geometric forms predominate. The combination of so much glass and lack of internal structural columns resulted in an airy space that appeared larger than it is, accenting

8736-457: Was coined by architectural critics and historians (not by Wright), who noticed how the buildings and their various components owed their design influence to the landscape and plant life of the Midwest prairie of the United States. Typical of Wright's Prairie houses, he designed not only the house, but all of the interiors, the windows, lighting, rugs, furniture and textiles. As Wright wrote in 1910, "it

8832-444: Was declared a Chicago Landmark, the first building to receive such recognition from the newly formed Commission on Chicago Landmarks . In 1980, the house was designated an Illinois Historic Landmark. Most recently, in 2019, Robie House was designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site together with seven other significant works by Frank Lloyd Wright under the group listing " The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright ." Robie House

8928-605: Was forced to sell the house after living in it for only fourteen months. David Lee Taylor, president of Taylor-Critchfield Company, an advertising agency, bought the house and all of its Wright-designed contents in December 1911. Taylor died less than a year later, and his widow, Ellen Taylor, sold the house and most of its contents to Marshall D. Wilber, treasurer of the Wilber Mercantile Agency, in November 1912. The Wilbers were

9024-716: Was made for the Salem Maritime National Historic Site on March 17, 1938. In 1960, the National Park Service took on the administration of the survey data gathered under this legislation, and the National Historic Landmark program began to take more formal shape. When the National Register of Historic Places was established in 1966, the National Historic Landmark program was encompassed within it, and rules and procedures for inclusion and designation were formalized. Because listings (either on

9120-575: Was only 28 years old and the assistant manager of the Excelsior Supply Company, a company on the South Side of Chicago owned and managed by his father. Although later drawings of the Robie House show a date of 1906, Wright could not have started the design for the building earlier than the spring of 1908 because Robie purchased the property only in May of that year. He and his wife, Lora Hieronymus Robie,

9216-399: Was subsumed into the Chicago Theological Seminary in 1926. Florence Fensham was the school's first dean, succeeded by Agnes M. Taylor and Margaret M. Taylor after Dean Fensham died unexpectedly in 1912. The Chicago Theological Seminary allow full acceptance of women to its programs in 1926, thereby eliminating the need for a separate institution for women. In 1892, CTS invited Graham Taylor ,

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