ROBIE HOUSE

Interior Restoration of a Prairie Style Paradigm

Project Information

  • Project Location: Chicago, Illinois

  • Work Completed: Restoration of select art glass windows, interior doors, plaster, paint finishes, wood trim, and floors

  • Area / Cost: 9,000 sf / $2.6 million

  • Work Completed: Phase I; Summer 2018, Phase II; Spring 2019

  • Client: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust

  • Professional Final Photography: James Caulfield

The Frederick C. Robie House, located at 5757 S. Woodlawn Avenue in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood is a National Historic Landmark and is included as one of the eight sites on the UNESCO World Heritage list as the Key Works of Modern Architecture by Frank Lloyd Wright. It is regarded as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most significant Prairie style houses. Completed in 1910 for Frederick C. Robie and his family, the building is Wright’s quintessential Prairie style house featuring rich brown Roman brick walls with limestone trim, low-sloping clay tiled hip roofs with wide overhanging eaves, and bands of decorative art glass doors and windows. Over the years the house has endured multiple owners, renovations, and uses, as well as more than one threat of demolition. In 1997, operations and maintenance of the house was turned over to the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust. Since that time, the Trust has raised money for restoration work and conducted tours of the house.

In 2012, Harboe Architects was asked to create a Restoration Work Plan to outline the previous work and develop a plan to successfully complete the restoration of the Robie House. While the previous studies and restoration projects that have been undertaken to date have facilitated the long-term preservation of the house, additional work is necessary to bring the house to the level of completion desired by the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust.

In 2014, Harboe Architects prepared construction documents for the interior and exterior restoration of Robie House. Restoration work began in 2017 which included the interior restoration of the Entry Hall, Billiard Room, Main Stair, Upper Entry and Living Room. The work was completed in the summer of 2018 at which time Phase 2 started, which included the restoration of the Playroom, Servant’s Stair, Guest Bedroom, and Dining Room. This work was completed in the spring of 2019.

Living Room, Frederick C. Robie, 1910. Collection of the Frank Lloyd Trust.

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