"the first prairie house;" a photographic survey of frank lloyd wright's william winslow house (1894)

photographic survey of frank lloyd wright's william winslow's residence (1894), located at 515 auvergne pl, river forest, ills.

i've included my original foldout page of wright's winlow house, from architectural review, bates & guild company, 1900.

the winslow brothers were chicago’s leading architectural manufacturers, producing wrought and cast iron, and complex decorative metalwork for countless chicago landmarks, including the auditorium, ashland block, columbus and ventetian, montauk, old colony, masonic temple, fisher, manhattan, schlesinger & mayer department store, monadnock, the chicago stock exchange, etc.

their work intertwined significantly with legendary architects of the prairie school, as they collaborated with louis sullivan and george elmslie (among others) on multiple commissions, and in turn hired frank lloyd wright to design william winslow’s home in river forest (where they then printed wright’s influential "house beautiful" publication in their basement studio).

the company that william and francis winslow formed in 1887 would win eight medals in the 1893 columbian exposition, and further honors at the world exposition in paris seven years later. the highlights of the winslow brothers’ company are well-recorded in illustrated catalogs and extant buildings.

images courtesy of eric j. nordstrom and the bldg. 51 archive. all rights reserved. 2023.