The Prairie School Legacy in Iowa Symposium

BIO

Paul Kruty is a leading expert on the architects of the Prairie School, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Marion Mahony, Walter Burley Griffin and Robert Spencer.

His books include: Walter Burley Griffin in America (1996), Two American Architects in India: Walter B. Griffin and Marion M. Griffin, 1935-1937 (1997), Frank Lloyd Wright and Midway Gardens (1998), Marion Mahony and Millikin Place (2007), Walter Burley Griffin and the Stinson Memorial Library (2010), and he served as editor and contributor to Rock Crest/Rock Glen: the American Masterwork of Marion M. and Walter B. Griffin (2014).

His essay on Marion Mahony’s drawings for Wright (2011) for the first time provided a comprehensive framework for understanding her accomplishment.

His many articles range from studies of the world’s first architectural licensing law, the context of Wright’s designs for the Arts-and-Crafts book House Beautiful, and the architectural development of Chicago’s Gold Coast neighborhood, to the role of the casement window in early modern architecture and the arrival of Modern art to America’s Midwest. 

Professor Kruty received a B.A. from the University of Chicago and earned his Ph.D. at Princeton University. He is Professor Emeritus of Architectural History at the University of Illinois, Urban-Champaign.

Presentation Title

"The Legacy of the Prairie School, America's First Modern Architecture".

Description

The modern movement to create an architecture that more fully responded to the values of Americans rather than reflecting European historic styles found its first great exponent in Chicago’s Louis H. Sullivan. Sullivan’s followers, including Frank Lloyd Wright and the architects of the Prairie School, continued this development well into the 20th century, as witnessed by the two important sites that are the subject of this conference. Sullivan’s legacy continues to this day among the architects of America’s organic tradition.

BIO

Julia Bachrach is a consulting historian and historic preservation consultant who previously served as the Chicago Park District’s preservation planning supervisor for 28 years.

Her recent projects include the Eagle Point Park Pavilions Historic Structures Report (with Wiss Janney Elstner Associates), the Cultural Landscape Report of the Edith Farnsworth House (with Teska Associates) and the National Register of Historic Places nomination form for Promontory Point, a lakefront park with a Caldwell designed landscape in Chicago.

Presentation Title

“Poems in Stone: Alfred Caldwell’s “Nature Aiding Program” for Eagle Point Park”.

Description

After his appointment as Superintendent of the Dubuque Park System in 1934, Alfred Caldwell created an ambitious redevelopment plan for Eagle Point Park. The bucolic greenspace of approximately 130 acres stood above a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River. Caldwell was inspired by the site’s natural beauty and its abundant supply of native limestone from a quarry at the base of the park.

He was also influenced by two prominent mentors with whom he had close relationships—Jens Jensen and Frank Lloyd Wright. Describing his approach as a “nature aiding program,” Caldwell created beautifully sited pavilions of stratified limestone, outdoor terraces, paths, council rings, and a naturalistic water feature. This presentation provides an in-depth history of Caldwell’s work at Eagle Point Park as a prelude to the on-site tour which will take place the following day.

BIO

John Waters, AIA, a registered architect based in Chicago, is preservation programs director at the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, overseeing the organization’s technical services and preservation easement programs.

He has worked with Wright homeowners and public site stewards across the US and in Japan, providing preservation and restoration information. He also engages with the organization’s advocacy efforts, to preserve at-risk structures.

John’s independent research and teaching activities have focused on architects HH Richardson, Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahony Griffin and Bruce Goff. In 2016 he updated the National Register Nomination for the Griffins’ Rock Crest/Rock Glen development in Mason City, Iowa, qualifying the site for a national level of significance.

He wrote the National Historic Landmark nomination for Goff’s Ford House in Aurora, Illinois, which was designated an NHL in 2023. He is a past board member of HH Richardson’s Glessner House in Chicago and a founding director of the Victorian Society in America’s annual Chicago Summer School.

Presentation Title

“From Prairie to Usonia, Frank Lloyd Wright’s Half-Century Legacy in Iowa”.

Description

Frank Lloyd Wright is the best-known and probably the most prolific of the Prairie School architects who practiced in Iowa. Over the course of nearly 50 years, Wright designed buildings found at ten different Iowa sites.

His 1908 Stockman House in Mason City is a prime example of the influential “Fireproof house for $5,000.” A year later, for the same city, Wright designed his only remaining purpose-built hotel, the Park Inn.

In 1915 a version of his early, little-known but important, attempt at systematized construction, the American System-Built House, was constructed in Monona. The last decades of Wright’s career saw what many consider the culmination of his residential design efforts, the Usonian house.

In the 1940s and ‘50s, seven unique exceptional examples of the Usonian house were built in Iowa. This talk will provide an overview of Wright’s work in the state, highlighting common design concepts and how those concepts are a part of the Prairie School legacy in Iowa.

BIO

Katie Hund is the Manager at Cedar Rock State Park, home of the public Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Walter Estate. Katie entered the world of Frank Lloyd Wright through a love for the outdoors and informal education. Managing a park and a historic museum house has proven to be a great fit for Katie’s Earth Science and Interpretation education and background.

Katie has managed Cedar Rock State Park for the State of Iowa’s Department of Natural Resources for about 18 years and has visited more than 65 public and private Frank Lloyd Wright and related architectural sites and homes across the country. In-line with the DNR focus at Cedar Rock, Katie manages the 426-acre site with specific attention to recreation, interpretation, and operations. Historical and Preservation Planning are areas of great importance at the site. Cedar Rock is currently in the planning stages of a large-scale restoration project focusing on the retaining wall and tuckpointing at the main house.

Presentation Title

“Frank Lloyd Wright’s Cedar Rock - History and Preservation of the Walter Estate”.

Description

In January, of 1945 Lowell and Agnes Walter wrote to Frank Lloyd Wright’s Architectural Company inquiring about employing the famed architect to design a dwelling to be built on the Wapsipinicon River about fifty miles west of Dubuque, Iowa. Their rural, riverside property was a stunning site to realize a conceptual glass house Frank Lloyd Wright had designed for town and country living years before this commission.

The project laid the foundation for a friendship between the owners and architect that spanned the remainder of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life. The Walter Estate, known as Cedar Rock is open to the public seasonally and is preserved within a 426 acre Iowa State Park. This presentation provides an in-depth history of the property as a preamble to touring the estate on the second day of the symposium.

BIO

Mike Ford is a preservation architect with Wiss, Janney, Elstner Associates, Inc. (WJE). His work has included the development of foundational preservation documents, such as Historic Structure Reports; investigation and assessment of historic buildings; development of repair documents; and construction observation. Mr. Ford also has expertise in the analysis and conservation of modern and historic materials and finishes. He has worked throughout the country on a wide variety of structure types including State capitals, religious buildings, plazas, bridges, lighthouses, ships, dams, fortifications, monuments and statues, and historic houses. His most rewarding projects are those in which he can help deepen the connection of a community to their built environment

Presentation Title

 "Discover Eagle Point Park"

Description

The Caldwell structures at Eagle Point Park were designed to be an extension of the natural landscape. Through the use of rock-faced stone, quarried nearby, and Prairie Style design concepts, Caldwell creates a place that invites you to explore the collection of unique spaces and features. For the past 90 years, these structures have evolved through maintenance, repairs, and changes to the site, yet the site retains its historic integrity and character. The nuances of its design and construction and history of its development can be revealed in a casual walk through the site.