Walter Gerts House on:
[Wikipedia]
[Google]
[Amazon]
The Walter Gerts House in River Forest, 
The Walter Gerts House in River Forest, Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
, the United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, was originally designed in 1905 by Charles E. White, who studied with 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 ...
at his Oak Park studio. White went on to pursue a successful career as both an architect and writer about related matters, and designed several important buildings in Oak Park including the massive Art Deco post office in 1933. The house shows influences both from White's East Coast beginnings in its colonial symmetry and his training with Wright 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 in ...
of architecture.
On December 2, 1910 there was a fire that destroyed much of the Walter Gerts House, but thanks to a neighbor who threw a flatiron through a window and awakened the Gerts family, no one was injured. Gerts then hired 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 ...
, who had just returned from Europe, to remodel the house. Wright had built houses for Both Walter and his father, George Gerts, in Michigan in 1902. Wright wrote to Darwin Martin "A house burned down here day before yesterday and the wner
WNER (1410 AM broadcasting, AM) is a sports radio station in Watertown (city), New York, Watertown, New York, United States. The station is owned by Stephens Media Group (broadcasting), Stephens Media Group. It broadcasts the national programming ...
has employed me to rebuild it."
In remodeling the house Wright totally re-configured the orientation of the central stairway and made major changes to the upstairs floor plan. Square spindles are featured throughout the house, both to separate first floor rooms and as part of built in radiator covers both upstairs and down. The back door was moved from behind the kitchen to the center of the house. The central staircase features built in drawers on both sides of the landing and stained glass windows that match those surrounding the front door. There are many other built in storage units throughout the house. Two upstairs bedrooms were combined to create one large master bedroom with a fireplace. The second floor balcony which was originally in a hallway became part of a new bedroom.
The Gerts family moved to 819 Thatcher Avenue in River Forest around 1918.
See also
*List of Frank Lloyd Wright works
Frank Lloyd Wright designed over 425 houses, commercial buildings and other works.
"The 20th-Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright" is a UNESCO World Heritage Site consisting of a selection of eight buildings across the United States designe ...
References
* Storrer, William Allin. ''The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion''. University Of Chicago Press, 2006, (S.177) {{Frank Lloyd Wright Gerts