The Oscar B. Balch House is a home located in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The

Prairie style 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 hip roof, hipped roofs with broad Overhang (architecture), ove ...

Balch House was designed by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1911. The home was the first house Wright designed after returning from a trip to Europe with a client's wife. The subsequent social exile cost the architect friends, clients, and his family. The house is one of the first Wright houses to employ a flat roof which gives the home a horizontal linearity. Historian Thomas O'Gorman noted that the home may provide a glimpse into the subconscious mind of Wright. The Balch house is listed as a

contributing property In the law regulating historic districts in the United States, a contributing property or contributing resource is any building, object, or structure which adds to the historical integrity or architectural qualities that make the historic distri ...

to a U.S. federally Registered Historic District.

History

The Oscar Balch House was one of the first homes designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright upon his return from an extended trip to Europe, during which he designed no houses.Oscar B. Balch House
, ''Oak Park Tourist,'' excerpted from: Sprague, Paul E. ''Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright & Prairie School Architecture in Oak Park'' Oak Park Bicentennial Commission of the American Revolution ndOak Park Landmarks Commission, Village of Oak Park: 1986, (). Retrieved 11 June 2007.O'Gorman, Thomas J. ''Frank Lloyd Wright's Chicago'', Thunder Bay Press, San Diego: 2004, pp. 276-77, (). Wright had traveled to Europe with

Mamah Borthwick Mary Bouton "Mamah" Borthwick (June 19, 1869 – August 15, 1914) was an American translator primarily noted for her relationship with architect Frank Lloyd Wright, which ended when she was murdered. She and Wright were instrumental in bringing th ...

, a client’s wife. This flaunting of public morality lost him friends, clients and his family. Amongst those who by contrast stood by Wright was the interior decorator Oscar Balch. Balch was one of two partners in the decorating firm Pebbles & Balch. In 1907, Wright created a building redesign for Balch's storefront on Lake Street in Oak Park; the building was later razed.

Architecture

The Balch House is one of Wright's first flat-roofed houses and its proportions are taller compared with later flat-roofed homes he designed.Heinz, Thomas A. ''The Vision of Frank Lloyd Wright'', Chartwell Books, Inc., Edison, New Jersey: 2006, pp. 156-57, (). Wright brought new drama to his

with the addition of the flat roof. The expansive roof further refined the simplicity of Wright's Prairie style house. The house has broad, overhanging eaves, common to Prairie houses and in the case of the Balch House they further emphasize the Prairie theme. The exterior is sheathed in

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and a ...

which provides a sculpting effect on the exterior. The original color of the stucco on the exterior is unknown but photographs show that the house has undergone color changes. The design of the house is symbolic in its heightened terrace walls, the security walls and its hidden and obscured entryway. The house clearly shows the signs of someone who feels trapped or "under siege." The events of Wright's personal life may be reflected in the design of the Balch House. Regardless, the house has a remarkable linear proportion and Wright managed to raise the eyeline with the rows of windows on the home's second floor. The home is part of a series of geometric,

cubic Cubic may refer to: Science and mathematics * Cube (algebra), "cubic" measurement * Cube, a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex ** Cubic crystal system, a crystal system w ...

homes with overhanging, flat roofs designed by Wright in the early 20th century. The first was the

Laura Gale House The Laura Gale House, also known as the Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House, is a home in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The house was designed by master architect Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1909. It is located within the bou ...

in Oak Park, Illinois, followed by the Oscar B. Balch House, also in Oak Park, Coonley Kindergarten, the Bogh House and then the Bach House.Emil Bach House
, (

PDF Portable Document Format (PDF), standardized as ISO 32000, is a file format developed by Adobe in 1992 to present documents, including text formatting and images, in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems. ...

), National Register of Historic Places Nomination Form, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 5 June 2007. The first floor plan is similar to the

Edwin H. Cheney House Edwin H. Cheney House (1903) located in Oak Park, Illinois, United States, was Frank Lloyd Wright's design of this residence for electrical engineer Edwin Cheney. The house is part of the Frank Lloyd Wright–Prairie School of Architecture Histo ...

; both have a three part first floor layout that includes a library, a dining room and a living room. The interior spaces are separated by "low decks set at the window heads." In the living room the house is anchored by a Roman brick fireplace at its center and there are libraries on either side of two small setback pavilions. These features help the building's interior flow and symmetry. Copious use of glass brings natural light into the interior. As of 2021, the owner of the home was working with Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects (TBDA) to complete renovations in order to reduce its carbon footprint to net zero. The retrofit is expected to be completed by 2025.

Significance

The Oscar Balch House represents Frank Lloyd Wright's defiant return to the streets of Oak Park and to architecture after his absence and concurrent trip to Europe with Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The house was called "forged of Wright's personal courage and cheeky moral humbridge" by historian Thomas O'Gorman. O'Gorman concluded it was possible that the Balch House provides a rare glimpse into the subconscious mind of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Balch House is an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's fully mature

. Its flat roof and horizontal linearity are a continuation of the ideas Wright began to manifest in the Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House in 1909. The Oscar B. Balch House is listed as a

to the

Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District Frank or Franks may refer to: People * Frank (given name) * Frank (surname) * Franks (surname) * Franks, a medieval Germanic people * Frank, a term in the Muslim world for all western Europeans, particularly during the Crusades - see Farang Cur ...

.Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District
, Property Information Report-District listing, HAARGIS Database, ''Illinois Historic Preservation Agency''. Retrieved 11 June 2007. The historic district was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973. The Balch House stands across the street from the home where Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood years.

History

Architecture

Significance

See also

References

Further reading