Houses, Trips and the Way Ideas for Living Get around

Last week Elin and company spent time in Greater Chicago. She taught at the Viola da Gamba Society of America's annual Conclave, and the rest of the family spent some time exploring the environs.

One of the places they visited was Robie House (1910), Frank Lloyd Wright's visionary private residence now next to the University of Chicago campus in Hyde Park. They came back with a nifty placemat and some coasters in a design from the stained glass in the house.

I was much impressed by the house when I was there researching Chicago for Green City. At the time I didn't appreciate how much the decoration in our house was influenced by trends started by Wright. But the lighting fixture in the dining room (dating from the 1920s probably) definitely show how widely Wright's ideas spread, not to mention the millions of low slung suburban houses of the 20th century which were knock-offs of the Prairie style, like the one on the right in Montreal.