William H. Emery Jr. House is a

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 ...

residence in Elmhurst,

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 ...

. It was one of the first independent commissions for

Walter Burley Griffin Walter Burley Griffin (November 24, 1876February 11, 1937) was an American architect and landscape architect. He is known for designing Canberra, Australia's capital city and the New South Wales towns of Griffith, New South Wales, Griffith and ...

History

William Emery Sr. moved to

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

, and purchased the Seth Wadhams farm in Elmhurst in 1887. Aside from profits made from developing the farm, Emery served as president of the Elmhurst school board, the Elmhurst Golf Club, and the New England Society of Chicago. Emery also had an important role in bringing electricity and water supply to the town. Emery had six children, including William H. Emery Jr. The younger Emery was a personal friend to architect

, whom he met in school. Griffin had designed the Elmhurst Golf Club (now demolished), but the Emery house was his first residential commission. Emery had ideas about what he wanted his house to look like, and believed that Griffin's mentor

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 ...

would not be tolerant of his opinions. The house was a wedding gift from the senior Emery to the junior Emery and was completed in 1903. The 1909 William B. Sloane House at 248 Arlington Avenue is the only other Griffin-designed residence in Elmhurst.Illinois Historic Preservation Agency
/ref> The house was purchased and restored by Dr. Thomas W. Zusag, and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in May 2004.

Architecture

The property on which the house was built was part of the original Emery land claim, now at the northeast corner of Arlington Avenue and Adelia Street. The lot is rectangular at approximately . The house is with the longer axis parallel to Arlington Avenue. It is rectangular with two exceptions: the

porte cochere Porte may refer to: *Sublime Porte, the central government of the Ottoman empire *Porte, Piedmont, a municipality in the Piedmont region of Italy *John Cyril Porte, British/Irish aviator *Richie Porte, Australian professional cyclist who competes ...

extending to the west and two-story wing on the east. A semicircular drive from Arlington provides access to the porte cochere. The foundation is concrete and is built mostly with red brick, concrete, stone-colored

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 ...

, and wood trim. The cedar-shingled gable roof is high pitched, unusual for a Prairie School design, and was probably influenced by Japanese architecture.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emery William H. Jr., House Elmhurst, Illinois Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Illinois National Register of Historic Places in DuPage County, Illinois Houses completed in 1903 Houses in DuPage County, Illinois Walter Burley Griffin buildings