Francis J. Woolley House
- Architect
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Style
- Queen Anne
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- wright’s chicago
The Francis J. Woolley House at 1030 Superior Street was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1893 for lawyer Francis J. Woolley. It's one of Wright's early efforts at lower-cost, more affordable housing, closely related to the trio of Oak Park homes known as the 'bootleg houses,' and its Queen Anne styling owes a heavy debt to Wright's first teacher, Joseph Silsbee, and to the Arts and Crafts movement.
the building
Queen Anne splendor. The house is known for its massive bay windows and projecting roof masses, features that have led writers to call it a 'Queen Anne splendor' and that mark it as considerably more conventional than Wright's later, high-style Prairie School work such as the Heurtley House.
the style
Where Wright's mature Prairie School houses hug the ground with strong horizontals, the Woolley House still speaks in the vertical, gabled language of Queen Anne — a reminder of how far his style still had to travel.
More on Queen Annethe architect
The Woolley House dates from Wright's earliest independent period, before the Prairie School properly emerged. Its debt to Joseph Silsbee, Wright's first teacher, and to the Arts and Crafts movement marks it as part of his formative years working through the affordable single-family house as a design problem.
More on Frank Lloyd Wrightsignificance
The house is listed as a contributing property to a local and federal historic district.
more by Frank Lloyd Wright
nearby
- Nathan G. Moore House
- Edward R. Hills House
- William H. Copeland House
- Arthur Heurtley House
- Robert P. Parker House
- Thomas H. Gale House