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Essay on The Prairie School
In the first decades of the 20th century, some architects began designing buildings in styles that bore no reference to prior historical architectural styles. The earliest of these, the Craftsman and the Prairie School styles, looked to other areas of inspiration than the past for stylistic ideas. With the Prairie School style in particular, there was intent to have architecture fit more into the rhythm of the surrounding natural landscape.
As the century progressed, modernism took hold, first with the International modern style and then with later moderate variations. In the Craftsman, Prairie, and modernist styles, the pure expression of materials, without unnecessary ornamentation, was the dominant design feature.
The influence that Frank Lloyd Wright had on the modern world is often vastly underrated. His many modern looking structures can be seen everywhere, and the imprint of his architectural style can be seen in countless buildings throughout the world. From his humble beginning building houses, until his death, Wright always managed to be both impressive and creative. It may seem odd that much of this talent developed during the time that he lived in Illinois, and odder still that it can be traced to the year 1900, but that was the year when he first incorporated his own elements of architecture in the famous Prairie Style.
The Prairie School style of architecture is frequently regarded as America's first indigenous residential architectural style. It takes inspiration not from historical precedents but from the Midwest's most characteristic natural feature, the prairie. Hence, the horizontality of the Midwest landscape is emphatically expressed in Prairie houses. Identifying features of Prairie School architecture include low-pitched roofs with wide overhangs, flat stucco or brick wall treatment, casement windows frequently leaded clustered in horizontal bands, and brick detailing in geometric patterns. Prairie School buildings generally have a massive quality, as if rooted to the earth...........
