The B. Harley Bradley House is a

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

-designed home, constructed in the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped ...

style, that was constructed in

Kankakee, Illinois Kankakee is a city in and the county seat of Kankakee County, Illinois, United States. As of 2020, the city's population was 24,052. Kankakee is a principal city of the Kankakee-Bourbonnais-Bradley Metropolitan Statistical Area. It serves as a ...

in 1900–1901.

History

B. Harley Bradley and his wife, Anna Hickox Bradley, were the brother-in-law and sister of Warren Hickox, of the Warren Hickox House, located next to the Bradley House. The Bradley House and the

Willits House The Ward W. Willits House is a building designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed in 1901, the Willits house is considered one of the first of the great Prairie School houses. Built in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, t ...

, also built in 1901 in

Highland Park, Illinois Highland Park is a suburban city located in the southeastern part of Lake County, Illinois, United States, about north of downtown Chicago. Per the 2020 census, the population was 30,176. Highland Park is one of several municipalities located ...

and designed by Wright, compete for the title of the first

residence designed by Wright and built to his specifications. Harley Bradley had inherited means from his

grandfather Grandparents, individually known as grandmother and grandfather, are the parents of a person's father or mother – paternal or maternal. Every sexually-reproducing living organism who is not a genetic chimera has a maximum of four genetic ...

, a local manufacturer of

plowshare In agriculture, a plowshare ( US) or ploughshare ( UK; ) is a component of a plow (or plough). It is the cutting or leading edge of a moldboard which closely follows the coulter (one or more ground-breaking spikes) when plowing. The plowsh ...

s and other farm and garden implements. The Bradley House is a residential space that includes a residence, a basement, and a 3,000 square-foot stable space connected to the main building by a

breezeway A breezeway is an architectural feature similar to a hallway that allows the passage of a breeze between structures to accommodate high winds, allow aeration, or provide aesthetic design variation. It is a pedestrian walkway because it is intend ...

. Tours are available for a fee, and the house's current owner, the nonprofit group ''Wright in Kankakee'', has refitted the stable to serve as a gift shop. The "Prairie Style" is so named because Wright, the style's pioneer architect, worked with his clients to develop architectural spaces that were inspired by the wide, horizontal landscape and natural plant forms of the

tallgrass prairie The tallgrass prairie is an ecosystem native to central North America. Historically, natural and anthropogenic fire, as well as grazing by large mammals (primarily bison) provided periodic disturbances to these ecosystems, limiting the encroachm ...

that surrounded Kankakee. This mirroring theme was especially suited to the fenestration of the buildings constructed in this style.

USA Today ''USA Today'' (stylized in all uppercase) is an American daily middle-market newspaper and news broadcasting company. Founded by Al Neuharth on September 15, 1982, the newspaper operates from Gannett's corporate headquarters in Tysons, Virgini ...

commented that the house, "reveals what would become his hallmark: long rows of windows, stained glass, and a low-pitched roofline." 82 of the Bradley House's original 90

art glass Art glass is a subset of glass art, this latter covering the whole range of art made from glass. Art glass normally refers only to pieces made since the mid-19th century, and typically to those purely made as sculpture or decorative art, with no ...

windows survive. The home, as completed, included fittings and furnishings designed or chosen by Wright. Much of the Bradley family fortune used to build and fit out the house had come from the implements used to plow up the prairie sod that is celebrated by the house. The B. Harley Bradley House was listed in the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as part of the Riverview Historic District on August 22, 1986. On June 2, 2009, it was individually recognized by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational properti ...

with a listing.

References

* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.052)

External links

Wright in Kankakee website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bradley, B. Harley, House and Stable Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Houses in Kankakee County, Illinois Historic district contributing properties in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in Kankakee County, Illinois