Mar 21, 1979
George W. Maher House - National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance: George Washington Maher's home in Kenilworth is architecturally significant in that it is one of the earliest statements of the architect's design values. The house shows the great influence of the Arts and Crafts movement on Maher, and provides the historian and architect with one of few examples of architecture at the transition from the application of the Arts and Crafts principles to the realization of the Prairie School. "Arts and Crafts was a movement, not a style. It was an attitude, an approach to the problem, that advocated no specific vocabulary of forms." 1 It was precisely this versatility of the Arts and Crafts ideas that allowed a great variety of expressions to grow from the work of William Morris and Philip Webb in mid-Victorian England. The Art Nouveau, the Prairie School, and the Bauhaus--three distinct and often antithe2ical styles have their roots in the principles of the Arts and Crafts. G. W. Maher (who helped found the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society) stated his version of these principles in 1887: "The right idea of a residence is to have it speak its function. the idea of massiveness, centralization, and substantiality in residential architecture is to be sought."3 The Maher house exemplifies these ideals, with windows and bays placed according to need rather than formal symmetry, and a very strong statement of massiveness (the latter an effect of the huge roof). The interior further reveals Maher's early influences, with the massive wooden members providing boundaries that light and space play against in the style of the English Arts and Crafts practitioners. While the Maher house shows Maher's influences, it also provides a key to designs of the future, foreshadowing Maher's later work and Prairie architecture as a whole. At the time of the house's construction, Maher was the only residential architect to have developed a consistent, personal mode.4 The tall, peaked roof and medieval ornament used in the house would rapidly disappear from Maher's work, but the strong central massing and sense of substance that the house gives would be a characteristic of all of his later designs. Other Prairie architects whose early designs reflect the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement (among them Myron Hunt and F. L. Wright) would derive similar structures in the years between 1893 and 1900. The Maher house is a well preserved, excellent example of the earliest work of the Prairie School, and one of the first realized designs of an unusual and important architect. For these reasons, as well as its beauty, it is a significant building in American architecture.
George W. Maher House - National Register of Historic Places
Statement of Significance: George Washington Maher's home in Kenilworth is architecturally significant in that it is one of the earliest statements of the architect's design values. The house shows the great influence of the Arts and Crafts movement on Maher, and provides the historian and architect with one of few examples of architecture at the transition from the application of the Arts and Crafts principles to the realization of the Prairie School. "Arts and Crafts was a movement, not a style. It was an attitude, an approach to the problem, that advocated no specific vocabulary of forms." 1 It was precisely this versatility of the Arts and Crafts ideas that allowed a great variety of expressions to grow from the work of William Morris and Philip Webb in mid-Victorian England. The Art Nouveau, the Prairie School, and the Bauhaus--three distinct and often antithe2ical styles have their roots in the principles of the Arts and Crafts. G. W. Maher (who helped found the Chicago Arts and Crafts Society) stated his version of these principles in 1887: "The right idea of a residence is to have it speak its function. the idea of massiveness, centralization, and substantiality in residential architecture is to be sought."3 The Maher house exemplifies these ideals, with windows and bays placed according to need rather than formal symmetry, and a very strong statement of massiveness (the latter an effect of the huge roof). The interior further reveals Maher's early influences, with the massive wooden members providing boundaries that light and space play against in the style of the English Arts and Crafts practitioners. While the Maher house shows Maher's influences, it also provides a key to designs of the future, foreshadowing Maher's later work and Prairie architecture as a whole. At the time of the house's construction, Maher was the only residential architect to have developed a consistent, personal mode.4 The tall, peaked roof and medieval ornament used in the house would rapidly disappear from Maher's work, but the strong central massing and sense of substance that the house gives would be a characteristic of all of his later designs. Other Prairie architects whose early designs reflect the influence of the Arts and Crafts movement (among them Myron Hunt and F. L. Wright) would derive similar structures in the years between 1893 and 1900. The Maher house is a well preserved, excellent example of the earliest work of the Prairie School, and one of the first realized designs of an unusual and important architect. For these reasons, as well as its beauty, it is a significant building in American architecture.
Mar 21, 1979
Posted Date
Apr 04, 2022
Historical Record Date
Mar 21, 1979
Source Name
United States Department of Interior - National Park Service
