Note please: After many problems, this database is (mostly) working again.
Please bear with me
as I attempt to fix any remaining problems.
ak Park, Illinois is often considered to be the birthplace of modern architecture. Frank Lloyd Wright built his first home here in 1889, and practiced architecture in the village for 20 years. He developed the prairie style in architecture; the first truly modern architectural style. Other local architects – some of whom formerly worked with Wright in his studio – designed many buildings using Wright's design principles, formulating their own version of his prairie style. Today there are hundreds of buildings in Oak Park that were inspired by Wright's vision, and Oak Park has become world famous because of its association with modern architecture.
But the architectural history of Oak Park includes more than just the prairie style. From 1870 to the early 20th century, Oak Park grew rapidly, and local architects built hundreds of houses in the popular styles of the day. Fine examples of stick, Queen Anne, Italianate, shingle, colonial revival and other architectural styles line Oak Park's streets. Many of them have been lovingly restored to their past glory by more recent owners.
After World War I, popular tastes became more conservative, and there was a large demand for houses based upon historical styles. In the areas of Oak Park that were developed in the 1920s there are many houses designed in these revival styles: Tudor, Colonial, Italian and French Renaissance, and others.
Oak Park's housing stock also includes many houses designed to be affordable to homeowners of more modest means. Several builders in the early 20th century – Thomas Hulbert and Seward Gunderson among them – developed large areas of Oak Park, building homes that provided attractive and comfortable housing to generations of Oak Parkers. These houses often included many features such as art glass and built-in dining room buffets that made each house an individual work of art.
This database is an attempt to compile many sources of information into one place; to give as complete a listing as is possible of the hundreds of architecturally significant houses in Oak Park. Little that is here is my own research, almost all of it is derived from sources which are listed on the detail pages for each house. I am grateful to the authors of each of these reference materials for their work. I am also attempting to get pictures for each of the houses in the database; this effort is ongoing, and many pictures remain to be taken.
I hope you find this work of interest, please use the email link above if you have any comments or corrections.