Architecture Wednesday: Frank Lloyd Wright's Charles F. Glore House

Kill me now. This is an original Frank Lloyd Wright Usonian-style house—smaller than his sprawling Prairie style residences, with little ornamentation and no basements or attics—in the Chicago suburb of Lake Forest that just sold for nearly $3 million, and I missed it!! Kill me now.

This, the Charles F. Glore House, built in 1954, is the only Wright work in Lake Forest, and of course it features Wright trademarks like clerestory windows, built-in bookshelves, mahogany panels, four fireplaces—three of which are cantilevered—and an abundance of brick. The home has been updated, but in a way that doesn’t detract from the FLW-style; a formal dining room was added after enclosing a portion of the deck, and the windows have been upgraded. In additional, the traditional FLW red concrete floors, on the main level, have been replaced by gray concrete floors resulting in a brighter look that contrasts with the extensive woodwork.

The house sits on a nearly two-acre lot, just one block from the lake, with over 4,300 square feet, four bedrooms, four baths, large living areas, and expansive outdoor spaces.

The entry runs along the front of the house and also acts as a library space, as well as a spot to marvel the suspended staircase to the second floor. Off that hallway is the dining room and wet bar addition to the home, but it’s what’s at the end of that long book-lined hall that’s the prize.

As in many of Wright’s designs, most of the bedrooms in the home are not large, because, he felt, it forced the residents to congregate in the main common areas. But why would you not, when the living room has dramatic double-height cathedral windows that open out to the park-like setting of the backyard. Upstairs, there are the four bedrooms; the master suite with en suite, fireplace and private terrace; a large guest room with walls that move to open it to the living room below; and two additional bedrooms.

The kitchen has also been updated, as have the bathrooms, but with cabinetry and counters that recall FLW’s original design, but make the rooms more efficient for the 21^st century.

I can’t with this house… it’s too big for us, but what I wouldn’t give to call it home.

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