Nathan G. Moore House
- Architect
- Frank Lloyd Wright
- Style
- Tudor Revival
- City
- Chicago, IL
- Collection
- wright’s chicago
The Nathan G. Moore House at 333 Forest Avenue in Oak Park, one block from Frank Lloyd Wright's own home and studio, was completed in 1895 in the Tudor Revival style at client Nathan Moore's insistence — a historicist commission Wright later admitted he disliked. A 1922 fire destroyed everything above the first floor, giving Wright a second chance: he rebuilt the upper stories in a manner closer to his own later work, keeping a Tudor silhouette but layering in Sullivanesque, Mayan, and other exotic ornament.
the building
A house Wright disliked. Wright designed the original 1895 house to satisfy Nathan Moore's taste for historical revival styles, then spent years unhappy with the result. When fire gutted the upper floors in 1922, he used the rebuild to fold in ornament he preferred, from Sullivanesque forms to Mayan motifs, while keeping the Tudor profile Moore had wanted.
the style
The house presents a Tudor Revival exterior, the style Moore requested in 1895, but Wright's 1922 rebuild above the first floor mixed that historic frame with Sullivanesque and Mayan detailing — a hybrid that remains largely intact today.
More on Tudor Revivalthe architect
Frank Lloyd Wright designed the house a block from his own home and studio on Forest Avenue, one of the historicist commissions he took on for local clients before turning fully to his own architectural language.
More on Frank Lloyd Wrightsignificance
The house had a brief run as a tour home before returning to use as a private residence, and it counts today as a contributing property to the National Register of Historic Places.
more by Frank Lloyd Wright
nearby
- Francis J. Woolley House
- Edward R. Hills House
- William H. Copeland House
- Arthur Heurtley House
- Robert P. Parker House
- Thomas H. Gale House