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The Frank W. Thomas House is located at 210 Forest Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois, United States. The building was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright in 1901 and cast in the Wright-developed Prairie School of Architecture. By Wright's own definition, this was the first of the Prairie houses - the rooms are elevated, and there is no basement. On September 14, 1972 the Frank Thomas House was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

History
Before the construction of the current house, the site on Forest Avenue was the first location of the Grace Episcopal Church, a stone, Gothic style building erected in 1882. By 1895, the congregation bought had outgrown the original church and bought land one block away on Lake Street. The old church building was demolished and the land was sold to James Cambell Rogers (1842-1927) around 1898.

Rogers commissioned Wright to design a wedding present to his daughter Susan and son-in-law Frank Wright Thomas. It was built only three blocks south of Wright's own home and another early work, the Nathan G. Moore House (1895). The appearance of the house, including the prominent entrance arch and sense of seclusion created by high windowless ground floor walls, earned it the nickname, "The Harem." In 1922, a two-story rear addition by Prairie School architecs Thomas E. Tallmadge and Vernon S. Watson was designed to blend with the earlier structure. In 1936, the Thomas' replaced the stucco exterior with cedar shingles. Much of the original trim and detailing were retained, however the walls flanking the front entrance were shortened by several feet. By the early 1970s, the north terrace had also been enclosed and the color scheme had been changed to two-toned blue with light yellow trim. New owners restored the front elevation to its original appearance in 1975.

Birth of Prairie style
While there is no concensus as to the "first" Prairie House, historians agree that four turn-of-the-century Wright houses mark the beginning of the style. These are, in order of completion, the Warren Hickox House (1900), the B Harley Bradley House (1900), the Frank W. Thomas House, and the Ward W. Willits House (1901).

In his autobiography, Wright described the ideal Prairie House as one with no basement or attic. In the center would be "broad, generous" chimney with an equally large "integral fireplace." Walls began at the ground atop a water table or platform and extended up to the bottom of the second floor windows. Glazing at that level extends unbroken around the four sides of the house. The roof would be shallow so as to enclose only as much space as necessary; deep eaves both protect the structure and provide diffused light into the interior. All spaces on the first floor, excluding the kitchen - which was at that time still the domain of the servants, were open as one room with minimal screens to define different uses. The compartimentalization of the second floor was maintained to preserve privacy in bedroom quarters.

Architecture
True to Frank Lloyd Wright's principles, the Frank Thomas House lacks a basement. However, instead of removing the underground functions, Wright raised the entire house so that the “basement” floor is even with the street. The main level was then raised one floor above the ground, as with the later designs for the Heurtley, Robie, and Coonley Houses. In the Thomas House, Wright assigned each floor a principle function. The ground level contained servant quarters, mechanical and other service spaces. Public spaces constituted a majority of the main level while a kitchen was allocated to the remainder of the southeast corner. Four bedrooms and a bathroom comprised the private upper floor.

Unlike the prominent, straightforward entrances of early works such as the Winslow House, the path of entry for the Frank Thomas House was conceived as indirect and circuitous. The arch and flanking walls were made particularly prominent due to careful alignment with the crosswalk at Ontario Street. However once a through the arch, a visitor would turn left up a flight of stairs, then turn on the landing to mount another flight of stairs, before reaching a small balcony outside the front door. The entrance door was visible from the street, but Wright’s detailing concealed it as one of the other full length windows facing the terrace. While this main level terrace could be seen from the entrance, it could only be accessed through via the interior.