January 17, 2018 Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Advanced Geometric Architecture Paper The Robie House: Chicago, Illinois The Frederick C. Robie House, or Robie House for short, is a National Historic Landmark in Chicago Illinois located on the campus of the University of Chicago in Hyde Park . The building was designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright between 1909 and 1910 and is considered the best representation of the Prairie School Style, the first exclusively American architectural style. Between 1908 and 1909, Wright designed the Robie House with its precedent being the Ferdinand F. Tomek House in Riverside, Illinois, also designed by Wright from 1907 to 1908. The man who commissioned the house was Frederick Robie, l assistant manager of the Excelsior Supply Company, owned and operated by his father. He and his wife, Laura Robie, a former University of Chicago student, had chosen the property at 5757 South Woodlawn Avenue in Hyde Park so they could be close to the University's campus and social life. The property measured 60 feet by 180 feet. The contractor, H. B. Barnard Co. of Chicago, began construction on April 15, 1909, and Wright was only able to supervise the early stages of construction as he left for Europe to work on the Wasmuth Portfolio. To continue construction of the house, he entrusted the job to Hermann von Holst and George Mann Niedecken, a Milwaukee interior designer who had previously worked with Wright on several projects such as the Susan Lawrence Dana House, the Avery Coonley House, and the Meyer May. Niedecken's work can be seen in the design of some of the home's furnishings, as well as in the rugs in the entryway, living room, and dining room. The Robie family, consisting of Frederick, Laura, and their two children, Frederick Jr. and Lorraine, moved into the house in May 1910, although all the final details, including carpets and furniture, were not completed until January 1911. The cost of the house was $58,500 and would be about $1.5 million today. However, Robie lived in his house very short, only fourteen months, because he was forced to sell it due to financial problems caused by the death of his father in July 1908 and the failure of his marriage. In December 1911, David Lee Taylor, president of the Taylor-Critchfield Company, an advertising agency, purchased the house and all of its Wright-designed contents. Then a year later Taylor died so his widow, Ellen Taylor, sold the house to Marshall D. Wilber, treasurer of the Wilber Mercantile Agency, in November 1912. The Wilbers family were the last people to live in Robie House, living there for a period. total fourteen years. In June 1926, the Wilbers sold the house to the Chicago Theological Seminary, which used it as a dormitory and dining hall although it was primarily interested in the site for future expansion. In 1941, a graduate student at the Illinois Institute of Technology accidentally discovered that the seminary was planning to demolish the Robie House, so he informed his instructors, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The threat of demolition sparked a series of protests. And although the seminary projects were postponed, it was more because of World War II than because of the protests. The most serious threat to the Robie House's existence came some sixteen years later. On March 1, 1957, the Seminary announced plans to demolish the Robie House on September 15 to build a new dormitory for its students. This time the entire nation shouted against its demolition, including Wright himself who, then 90 years old, returned to the Robie House on March 18, accompanied by the media, students and neighborhood organizers to protest..