#665 Wright in the Midwest

After leaving the Penfield House, the Wright fun continues throughout our Midwestern sojourn.

Our time in Oak Park allows for just one Wright stop, so we choose a return to Unity Temple.  Early on a Thursday morning, our timing is just right and allows for a long quiet time to sit in the sanctuary of this masterpiece. 

In Madison, we are greeted by our friend Cindy who offers to take us around to Madison's Wright buildings.  We had visited the Monona Terrace but not much else, so we jump at the chance and jump in the car.

Two of the houses on Cindy's itinerary (John Pew house on Lake Mendota and Van Tamelen house) are not visible from the street but we enjoyed these 7 Madison masterpieces.

Madison #1:  Our first stop is the Robert Lamp house, not as easy to find as you'd think since the house is built in the middle of the block and we must walk up the driveway between 2 other houses to reach it.  That setting is unusual for Wright.    

Madison #2:  The Eugene Gilmore house, aka the airplane house, is a Prairie School design built in 1908.  This house is just steps away from Cindy's house in the University Heights Historic District and she walks past it each day on her way to work.    

 Madison #3:  Though not designed by Wright, this cool house is where Cindy lives and we love it!

Madison #4:  Our next stop is not a house but a church.  Construction of the First Unitarian Society was completed in 1951.  Kelly is particularly taken with the bench seating.

Madison #5:  The Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House was built in 1937 and is the first Usonian home. 

Madison #6: Not many have the opportunity to work with Wright twice, but when the Jacobs family outgrew their first house, Herbert commissioned Wright to build the Herbert and Katherine Jacobs Second House in 1944.

 Madison #7: The Walter Rudin house was completed in June 1959, two months after Wright's death.

North of Madison a few hundred miles, we find ourselves within spitting distance of a Wright-designed gas station, so we point ourselves in the direction of Cloquet, MN.  The Lindholm Service Station was built in 1958 and is the only station designed by Wright.

The Historic Park Inn in Mason City, IA is just one more reason to visit this architecturally interesting city.  We're now planning our 25th wedding anniversary here in 2019.  Come join us!

We've toured Wright's Stockman house in the past but couldn't help ourselves from driving by again on a beautiful summer night in Mason City.

Yours in appreciating the Wright-filled Midwest,
Mary

#204 The Land of Lincoln, Wright and Horseshoe Sandwiches

Springfield, Illinois is home to D’Arcy’s Pint, an Irish pub famous for its horseshoe sandwich, a.k.a. heart attack on a plate. (Thanks, Todd, for the Roadfood link.) Here Kelly tries the most popular version – the Buffalo chicken horseshoe – two slices of Texas toast, fried chicken, white cheese sauce, and about a pound of crinkle cut fries. Other meat choices are available, but Kelly wanted to have what everyone else was having. And the Guinness goes well with the Buffalo chicken horseshoe, don’t you think?

So fed, we’re off to what brings us to Springfield in the first place, the Dana-Thomas House. Frank Lloyd Wright started remodeling a modest Victorian home here in 1902 for a wealthy heiress. The finished product was a 12,500 square foot prairie-style home ornamented with 250+ custom art-glass windows. It’s decided. When I grow up, I want to be a wealthy heiress. The art glass windows in the Dana-Thomas House are fabulous and I’m already trying to figure out how to mix the sumac-inspired designs by Wright with the flowering dogwood of Virginia. It was here in the land of Lincoln that we learned Wright was born as Frank Lincoln Wright in 1867. Later, angered by his father, he changed his middle name to Lloyd, his mother’s family name. Who knew?

Our visit to Lincoln Land wouldn’t be complete without stopping by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Though fascinated by the Mary Todd Lincoln exhibit, I gotta say my favorite part was the theatrical presentation – “Ghosts in the Library.” Showing how historical archives grant us a better understanding of the past, it was a big hit with all the kids in the audience and with me.

Kelly’s favorite part was the "Civil War in Four Minutes" video. Of course, it’s a map thing. The video devotes one second to each week of the war. The names of the major battles appear on the map at the appropriate time and the casualty count is updated constantly in the lower right of the screen. As time passed, lines representing the advance and retreat of the war fronts waved across the map. Once Sherman made it to the sea, the Confederates were sunk. According to Kelly, the story Ken Burns took 18 hours to tell is summarized nicely in 4 minutes here, with a simple map.

So, we came to Springfield with thoughts of horseshoes and Wright’s windows, but we left thinking about Honest Abe.

Yours in the LoL,
Mary