Wednesday, October 2nd: We stopped by Dixon, IL and visited our 40th president, Ronald Reagan’s, boyhood home. He visited there shortly after his first inauguration and sat at the dining table and had lunch with Nancy and his brother in 1981.
Friday, October 4th: I realize that we should have done more in Chicago than see two Frank Lloyd Wright (FLW) houses, FLW’s House and Studio in Oak Park and the Robie House on the University of Chicago’s campus, but that is what we wanted to see. We also wanted to connect with Thad and Diane Franczyk, my sister, Dawn’s in-laws since we have run out of weddings that we both would attend!
Frank Lloyd Wright’s House & Studio from 1889 -1909 in Oak Park, Chicago: It was fascinating to see FLW’s original home that he and his first wife built at FLW’s age of 22. Subsequent add-ons were made over the years to accommodate his 6 children. Items of note is how the complexity of stained glass evolved over various parts of his house, his interest in murals as part of his décor, the grand piano in the children’s playroom that extended into the stairwell because FLW didn’t like big furniture and FLW’s studio with 8 drafting desks for the architects who worked for him as well as the room-sized safe that they stored all the drawings each night (the back-up system of the day).
The Robie House on the University of Chicago Campus, designed by FLW in 1909 and finished in 1910 and is considered one of the finest of his “prarie” styled homes and also was the last home he designed in this style as he was getting ready to move on to different design concepts. It was recently fully restored to the timeframe of 1910. Tom was not impressed with the appearance of comfort in FLW’s furniture!
The Traveling Lounsburys 