Arthur B. Heurtley House (1902)

Arthur B. Heurtley House (1902)
318 Forest Avenue

This is one of Wright's truly great residences! It was built in 1902 for banker Arthur Heurtley whose serious dedication to the visual and musical arts must have encoraged Wright to design such a splendid work of art. This is truly one of the great houses for entertaining.

View looking east from Forest Avenue Behind the almost continuous band of casement windows of the second floor, and securely sheltered from the elements by the deep soffits of the vast hip roof, are the main elements of the house. On the left is the dining room, in the middle the living room and on the right a porch that originally was open. At the rear of the house on the same floor are the bedrooms.

Besides its highly compact form, the house is especially distingushed by its variegated brickwork which gives to the lower walls an organic roughness of texture and vibrancy of color that effectively relates the house to its natural surroundings. By continuing the brickwork to the south of the house as a low wall, Wright further emphasized this intended organic embrace of house and grounds.

The above commentary was excerpted from Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright & Prarire School Architecture in Oak Park by Paul E. Sprague (published 1986). The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust Book Catalog offers a selection of guidebooks which can be ordered online.

This is one of Wright's truly great residences! It was built in 1902 for banker Arthur Heurtley whose serious dedication to the visual and musical arts must have encoraged Wright to design such a splendid work of art. This is truly one of the great houses for entertaining.
View looking east from Forest Avenue	Behind the almost continuous band of casement windows of the second floor, and securely sheltered from the elements by the deep soffits of the vast hip roof, are the main elements of the house. On the left is the dining room, in the middle the living room and on the right a porch that originally was open. At the rear of the house on the same floor are the bedrooms.
Besides its highly compact form, the house is especially distingushed by its variegated brickwork which gives to the lower walls an organic roughness of texture and vibrancy of color that effectively relates the house to its natural surroundings. By continuing the brickwork to the south of the house as a low wall, Wright further emphasized this intended organic embrace of house and grounds.