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Prairie Style of Architecture in Buffalo, NY

Illustrations Beneath Text

Prairie style houses (1905-1915) may be viewed in a larger context as one type of Arts and Crafts ("Craftsman") style architecture. Vernacular examples were spread widely by pattern books and popular magazines; they are common in early 20th-century suburbs throughout the country. Most were built between 1905 and 1915; the style quickly faded from fashion after World War I. See American Foursquare, the earliest Prairie form. The prairie house is one of the few indigenous American styles. The name is key to the style. The stereotypical image of the Midwest prairie is that of a wide, flat, horizontal, treeless expanse that meets the horizon.

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright's early work is in this style and he is the acknowledged master of the Prairie house. To translate this scene into architecture, Wright, designed a horizontal building that was low to the ground. Thus, the architectural features: Broad horizontal forms Low-pitched roof, usually hipped with deeply projecting eaves Honest use of materials Organic ornament Two stories, with one-story wings or porches Eaves, cornice and facade emphasizing horizontal lines, often with massive, square porch supports Bands of casement windows Large, low chimney that forms the hub of the house Free-flowing interior plans Seamless transition between indoors and outdoors Both Prairie and Craftsman/Arts & Crafts (a one- or one-and-a-half-story is a Bungalow) have widely overhanging eaves, but the Prairie style does NOT have exposed rafter tails or decorative beams or braces under the gables Wright himself claimed that the interior of the prairie house held the greatest significance. With his "open plan" (minimum number of separating walls on the first floor) he sought to "beat the box," to escape the Victorian compartmentalization which he claimed was stifling the American family. The archetypal vision of the Victorian home, with mother entertaining the ladies over tea in the parlor, the father smoking cigars in the study, and the children banished to the nursery upstairs, was Wright's nemesis. To avoid this subdivision of space, Wright did away with the conventional divisions between spaces on the lower floors of his prairie homes. Rather than setting rooms in the house apart in its space and function, he unified them into one common space (Martin House example). The style originated in Chicago and landmark examples are concentrated in that city's early 20th-century suburbs, particularly Oak Park and River Forest. Many of the architects in the Prairie School worked with Wright himself or with his earlier employer and teacher, Louis Sullivan. Others absorbed Wright's and Sullivan's influence simply by being in Chicago Among the most important were George W. Maher, Robert C. Spencer, Jr., Thomas E. Tallmadge, John S. Bergen, Vernon S. Watson, Charles E. White, Jr., Eben E. Roberts, Walter Burley Griffin, William Drummond, F. Barry Byrne, George E. Elmslie, and William G. Purcell. In Buffalo, Wright designed five prairie houses: Darwin D. Martin House George Barton House William R. Heath House Walter D. Davidson House, and the Gardener's Cottage Wright also designed Graycliff, the Martins' summer home in nearby Derby, NY. In Tokyo, Japan, Wright designed the Jiyugakuen Myonichikan Girls' School in the prairie style.

Prairie Style Features

Text sources:

• "A Field Guide to American Houses," by Virginia & Lee McAlester. New York: Knopf, 2000
• "The Visual Dictionary of American Domestic Architecture," by Rachel Carley. New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1994
• "A Visual Dictionary of Architecture," by Francis D. K. Ching. New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1997
• " Identifying American Architecture: A Pictorial Guide to Styles and Terms 1600-1945," John J.-G Blumenson. NY: Norton, 1981Sources:
• "Common Houses in America's Small towns," by John A. Jakle, et al. Athens, GA: U. of Georgia Press, 1989.
• Arts and Crafts in Buffalo
• Frank Lloyd Wright Biography

See also:

• Arts and Crafts/Craftsman - Table of Contents
  
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright in Buffalo Illustrations, history, architecture
  
  
• Frank Lloyd Wright Biography Illustrations, history, architecture
  
  
• Jerome Puma, The Larkin Administration Building: History of the Demolition Illustrations, history
  
  
• The Prairie Style (Wright on the Web)

• Darwin D. Martin Complex Official Home Page
  
  
• Highlights of Buffalo's History, 1905 -1915
  
  
• Wasmuth Portfolio - Volume 1
  
  
• Wasmuth Portfolio - Volume 2

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Photos and their arrangement © 2002 Chuck LaChiusa
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