5757 S Woodlawn Ave
Chicago, IL 60637, USA

Frederick C. Robie House - National Register of Historic Places

Statement of Significance:
The Robbie House was designed and constructed (1907-1909) by Frank Lloyd Wright, for Frederick Carleton Robbie. One of the finest representative examples of the mature work of this famous architect, it has been designated as an official landmark by the Commission on Chicago Architectural Landmarks. In 1957, a panel of leading architects and art historians cited the Robbie House as one of the two outstanding residences built in the United States in the preceding 50 years. This clean-cut brick structure, which Wright developed in his inimitable "prairie style" to fit the confines of a city lot, has won international acclaim as a recognized turning point in modern domestic architecture.

House and Home Magazine featured "One Hundred Years of American Homes", in its May, 1957 issue, timed to observe the centennial of the American Institute of Architects. Succinctly expressed, Robbie House was the House of the Century. "Since 1857 no house has had more influence," was the unqualified appraisal of this respected publication. It is a hard task to summarize the significance of Robbie House and its real impact on our cultural life today, yet House and Home accomplished this feat with notable success and with brevity that invites quotation: No House in America during the past hundred years matches the importance of Frank Lloyd Wright's Robbie House.

Above all else, the Robbie house is a magnificent work of art. But, in addition, the house introduced so many concepts in planning 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.

Here, in one house designed 50 years ago, Wright demonstrated such diverse ideas as to open plan; the combination of windows in continuous strips; the projection of the roof soffit in deep cantilevers far out beyond the glass; the use of continuous inside-to-outside walls to join the house to its garden ; the effectiveness of a low slung roof to make the house seem more in repose; and the importance, for the same reasons , of horizontality throughout .

Similarly the Architectural Record during 1956 and 1957 ran a special feature, "One Hundred Years of Significant Buildings. " Again, the Robbie House (February, 1957) won highest honors in rating by the Record's professional panel on the most significant buildings built in America during the past fifty years. A critical commentary by Robbie House was built on a 60 by 210-foot city lot and the overall dimensions of the house are 154'-9" by 60'-0." As seen on the enclosed HABS location plan, the boundary of the national historic landmark which is immediately surrounded by residences and office, buildings, is the dimensions of the property owned by the University of Chicago, described as: Lot 16, and the south 10 feet of lot 17, Block 71 of Gray and Gaylord's subdivision of Block 71 and west half of 62.

Alan Burnham, A.I.A., merits quoting:

The Robbie house created at the domestic level something new to the eyes of 1909 Chicago, supplanting the symmetrical classicism of the day by an asymmetrical monumentality. In the structurally expressive use of piers, wall planes, and strips of windows all clustered about a central chimney, one senses an unusual coherence of planning. Visually this produced a bold interplay of forms with strong horizontals at different levels, originating in but leading away from the dominant vertical. The fenestration represented a radically new concept, with its almost continuous light source interrupted only by structural piers and amply shaded by wide eaves; the logical outgrowth of a harsher climate to which the conventional New England window had never been properly suited. One senses Wright's complete mastery of the house of that low-lying horizontal type of dwelling which he had originated and named the "Prairie House."

Robie House was designed and constructed by Frank Lloyd Wright , 1907-1909, for Frederick Carleton Robie, a native Chicagoan who had made his fortune in bicycles and sewing machines. Robie is reported to have told Wright, "I want a fireproof, reasonably priced house to live in not a conglomeration of doodads." The costs fell within the framework of reasonableness set by the client--for the lot he had paid $14 ,000; the house was estimated at $35 ,000, with $10,000 more for furniture either designed or selected by the architect. The plans were a sweeping departure from the traditional four-square approach of Living Room, Parlor, Dining Room, and Kitchen. Robie House polarized fresh architectural concepts which "saved us twenty years," according to Mies Vander Rohe, the famous German architect and teacher.

There is every reason to believe that the Robies cherished their home, which conferred international fame on them as patrons of architecture. When they disposed of it after some years of residence, it was to an appreciative owner in the person of Marshall D. Wilber, head of the Wilber Mercantile Agency. John Lloyd Wright, in his biography of his father tells us that the Wilburs loved the place and preserved everything as it was originally built. Commenting on the occasion when he accompanied the older Wright to dinner, he continued: "The old brown-stained furniture and woodwork was cleaned and polished. The soft autumn shade on the sand-finished wall panels had been maintained. The special light fixtures and leaded glass windows were clear and bright ... After we left, Dad said to me: 'You see John, that's an example of a house that has character, it grown more valuable as it grows older. '"

The Robie family lived in the house for two and a half years. Taylor family, sold it to Marshall D. Wilber after six months. The next owner, The Wilbers lived in the house 15 years. The Chicago Theological Seminary bought the house from the Wilbers for $100,000 in 1926, primarily as a site for future expansion, and used it variously as a women's dormitory, a classroom, building, a refectory, and a conference center. In 1957, the Seminary announced that it would raze the building to provide part of a site for married student's housing. The announcement brought a flood of protests from many, but none of the protesting individuals or organizations was able to suggest or finance a plan for the preservation of the building. However, Webb & Knapp, who had the contract as the redeveloper for the Hyde Park urban renewal project, bought Robie House for $102,000, to use as construction headquarters. The Seminary acquired the land just to the north of Robie House, which provided enough space for the new housing. At the time it announced its intention to raze Robie House, the Seminary said approximately $75,000 in structural repairs was required, and the cost of bringing the building into compliance with the Building Code of the City of Chicago would be an additional $25,000. Webb & Knapp made no structural changes. In 1962, the company offered to donate the house to any agency that would undertake to preserve it.

On February 4, 1963, the University of Chicago accepted the responsibility to maintain and use Robie House in perpetuity provided the substantial sum required to restore and repair it would be collected by those who wanted it preserved. An international committee of more than a hundred architects, historians, critics, and educators was then formed, with members representing all parts of the United States, Australia, England, France, Japan, Switzerland, Brazil, India, Italy, and Germany. The fund-raising drive for $2 50,000 was opened in 1963. This amount included restoring the original details of construction, as well as bringing the house into conformity with current building code standards. A considerable amount of delicate hand removal and repair was required. In February 1964, Taliesin Associates Architects were named as architects for the restoration. By December 1965 $62,990 had been collected. With this money, a new ceramic tile roof duplicating the original has been laid; and a new gas heating unit and new electrical service wiring have been installed.

The Adlai Stevenson Institute of International Affairs has occupied the house for a decade. A 1967 article in The Prairie School Review said that in their planning for the use of Robie House the Institute wanted a seminar and conference center as well as offices for their staff. Lacking funds for a complete restoration, the Institute decided to make such repairs as would bring the structure up to modern code requirements, do a thorough cleaning, and provide needed facilities by careful use of original and new furnishings.

With regards to alterations of the original Wright plan for the Robie House, the same article reported: Many built-in furnishings and fittings are missing such as the dining room buffet and the inglenook seat beside the living room fireplace. On the exterior, the unfortunate tuckpoint performed in recent years must be removed, and redone to re-establish the proper horizontal emphasis to the house. The east garden wall should be restored to its original height and the addition to the garage must be removed.

Presently the house is in structurally sound condition, but much of the details and the Wright-designed fixtures are in need of repair and restoration.

Frederick C. Robie House, 5757 Woodlawn Ave Chicago, Cook County, IL

"In recognition of the creation of the Prairie House a home organized around the great hearth where interior space, under wide sweeping roofs, opens to the outdoors. The bold interplay of horizontal planes about the chimney mass, and the structurally expressive piers and windows, established a new form of domestic design."