Prairie School

Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century[1] architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States.[2] The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves,[1] windows grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the landscape, and solid construction and craftsmanship. It reflects discipline in the use of ornament, which was often inspired by organic growth and seen carved into wood, stenciled on plaster, in colored glass, veined marble, and prints or paintings with a general prevalence of earthy, autumnal colors.[3] Spaciousness and continuous horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the wide, flat, treeless expanses of America's native prairie landscape, and decoration often depicted prairie wildlife, sometimes with indigenous materials contributing to a sense of the building belonging to the landscape.[4]

The Prairie School sought to develop an indigenous North American style of architecture,[1] distinguishing it from historical revivals that were popular at the time. It shared many ideals and design aesthetics of the Arts and Crafts Movement, though it embraced the machine[5] and also shared ideals with modernist movements.[6] Many architects were also part of the Chicago School, but Prairie School buildings were seen less in the commercial skyscrapers of Chicago and more in the suburban residences, though the style can be seen in throughout a variety of building types, including banks, schools, and churches.[1] Japanese architecture and prints, interests of Frank Lloyd Wright in particular, inspired the focus on simplicity and openness[7] in addition to the prairie landscape.

  1. ^ a b c d Brooks, H. Allen (1976). The prairie school: Frank Lloyd Wright and his midwest contemporaries. The Norton library. New York: Norton. ISBN 978-0-393-00811-1.
  2. ^ Spencer, Brian A., ed. (1979). The prairie school tradition: the prairie archives of the Milwaukee Art Center. New York, NY: Whitney Library of Design. ISBN 978-0-8230-7432-7.
  3. ^ Sprague, Paul E. (1986). Guide to Frank Lloyd Wright & Prairie school architecture in Oak Park (4th ed.). Oak Park (Ill.): Oak Park Bicentennial Commission of the American Revolution. ISBN 978-0-9616915-0-9.
  4. ^ Brooks, H. Allen, ed. (1975). Prairie School architecture: studies from "The Western architect". Toronto ; Buffalo: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 978-0-8020-2138-0.
  5. ^ Barter, Judith A. (1995). "The Prairie School and Decorative Arts at the Art Institute of Chicago". Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies. 21 (2): 113–186. doi:10.2307/4102820. JSTOR 4102820.
  6. ^ Michael, Vincent L. (December 1, 2010). "Expressing the Modern: Barry Byrne in 1920s Europe". Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians. 69 (4): 534–555. doi:10.1525/jsah.2010.69.4.534. ISSN 0037-9808.
  7. ^ Roberts, Ellen (2013). "'Ukiyo-e in Chicago: Frank Lloyd Wright, Marion Mahony Griffin and the Prairie School.'". Art in Print. 3 (2): 3–10. JSTOR 43045535.
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