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Stephen Foster House and Stable

Architect
Frank Lloyd Wright
Year
1900
City
Chicago, IL
Collection
wright’s chicago
Stephen Foster House and Stable
Photo: Zol87 from Chicago, Illinois, USA, CC BY-SA 4.0
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The Foster House and Stable at 12147 South Harvard Avenue in West Pullman was designed in 1900 by Frank Lloyd Wright as a summer home for attorney Stephen A. Foster, who worked for the developer building out that part of the neighborhood. Dating from an experimental period in Wright's career, the house was designated a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1996, and sold for $145,000 in March 2020 after years on the market.

the building

Tumblehome walls. The house and stable share an extremely rare tumblehome design: exterior walls slant inward from base to top even though the interior walls run straight, so the transition happens in windows and doors that grow narrower toward the top — construction akin to a flared wooden water tower.

Japanese-influenced roofs. Every roof peak and dormer carries an upward-flaring roofline, a Japanese-influenced detail rare among Wright's other work of the period.

the style

Built during an experimental phase of Wright's career, the house combines Japanese-influenced upward roof flares with the rare tumblehome wall profile, features Wright used in few if any of his other buildings.

the architect

Frank Lloyd Wright designed the Foster House and Stable in 1900, during an experimental period that produced some of his more unusual formal ideas.

More on Frank Lloyd Wright

significance

Designated a Chicago Landmark on May 9, 1996; sold for $145,000 in March 2020 after being on the market for several years.

more by Frank Lloyd Wright

nearby

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