Frank Lloyd Wright, Coonley House, Riverside, Chicago, USA, 1908
Frank Lloyd Wright, Coonley House, Riverside, Chicago, USA, 1908
About the Architect :
Frank Lloyd Wright (born Frank Lincoln Wright, June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, interior designer, writer, and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures, 532 of which were completed. Wright believed in designing structures that were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture. This philosophy was best exemplified by Fallingwater (1935), which has been called “the best all-time work of American architecture”. Wright was a leader of the Prairie School movement of architecture and developed the concept of the Usonian home, his unique vision for urban planning in the United States. His creative period spanned more than 70 years.
About the House :
The Avery Coonley House, also known as Coonley House, was constructed in 1907–08, this is an estate of several buildings built on the banks of the Des Plaines River in Riverside, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago.
Avery Coonley was heir to an industrial fortune and had an unlimited budget. Wright considered the Coonley house among his finest works up to that point. Wright included designs of the Coonley House in his 1907 exhibition at the Chicago Architectural Club. Construction began a year later.
The lower exterior is tan stucco rising to a ceramic tile banding with art glass windows in a geometric pattern. The U-shaped house surrounds a large courtyard. The courtyard gardens contain terraces, shallow planters and a large reflecting pool. The main living quarters were in the bottom (southern) axis of the U, with a guest wing on the right (east) and servants’ quarters and kitchens on the left (west). For the education of the Coonley’s young daughter Wright designed a playhouse nearby.
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