Robie House | |||||||||||||||
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Name of Work | Robie House | ||||||||||||||
Production Date | 1910 | ||||||||||||||
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Media Types | brick, leaded glass, Stone | ||||||||||||||
General Notes | Dimensions are my rough approximations. |
A radical rakingly-horizontal design on a tight city lot that focuses your attention. The structure is given immense three-dimensionality by means of the massive shallow roofs that overhang in all directions, along with the deeply set window ribbons. Long bricks, and emphasized horizontal joints all add to the radical horizon. The colors are simple and rich -- with the strong red brick, the offsetting neutral stone horizontal pieces and the rich playfulness of the window details. You experience the interior spaces as being expansive, because the ribbon horizontal windows provide continuous vistas in almost all directions. The materials of the interior are sumptuous wood and plaster and playful window designs
The essence of a house as shelter, and providing a sense of strength and privacy. That is, a structure that exudes strength through its massive cantilever and massive brick and stone forms, along with its big overhangs sheltering the windows to create a sense of privacy and enclosure, in its urban situation.
The world is open and has sweeping, unending possibilities.
A theological seminary owned it for some decades and tried to demolish it, but the public outcry stopped them.
Chicago School, organic architecture, prairie style