Exclusive Tours of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Most Famous Architectural Masterpieces

Chicago is a city that is celebrated for its architectural innovations. From the Wrigley Building downtown to the new Trump Tower along the Chicago River, on almost every street in the city, if you look up you will be in awe of Chicago’s architecture treasures.

One of Chicago’s greatest architects is Frank Lloyd Wright known for his Prairie-style houses and buildings. In honor of Wright’s architecture successes in Chicago, the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust is hosting an architectural excursion throughout Chicago June 23 – 27.

The excursion will include tours of Wright-designed buildings and privately-owned residences he created, including Hills-DeCaro, Charles Glore and Ward Willits residences.

The tour will also visit Frank Lloyd Wright’s home and studio in Oak Park (a suburb about 20 minutes from Chicago known  for having the world’s largest collection of Wright-designed buildings) that will include behind-the-scenes access to areas of the house and studio that are not open to the public and a wine and cheese reception in the Drafting Room.

The excursion will also include:

- A tour the new Modern Wing at Chicago’s Art Institute of Chicago.

- The Reliance Building, the first skyscraper to have large plate glass windows that constitute a majority of its surface area. The building is recognized as the “direct ancestor of today’s glass-and-steel skyscrapers.”

- The Richard Driehaus Museum.

- The Monadnock Building, which was the world’s largest office building when completed in 1893

- A Chicago River architecture cruise that discusses the history of Chicago architecture and its plans after the Great Chicago Fire of 1871.

- A behind-the-scenes tour of Buckingham Fountain, considered to be “Chicago’s front door” on Lake Michigan. Tip: The design of the fountain was based on the Bassin de Latome and modeled after the Latona Fountain at Versailles.

- Wright’s most recognizable residential structures such as the Peter Beachy House, Arthur B. Heurtley House, Nathan Moore House and William Copeland House.

- The Wright-designed, privately-owned Charles Glore residence on Chicago’s North Shore that has a floating staircase, separate dining room, workspace, and servants’ quarters, and the privately-owned Ward Willits residence, which was the first house Wright would complete in the true Prairie style.

Participants will also get a look at Wright’s Robie House, which is celebrating its centennial this year and is considered to be one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture with its horizontal lines, dramatic overhangs, stretches of art glass windows and open floor plan that make it a masterpiece of Wright’s Prairie style.

The excursion is $2,795 and includes four nights (double occupancy) at the historic Drake Hotel overlooking Lake Michigan, two breakfasts, four lunches, two dinners and all guide and entrance fees, as well as all transfers by luxury motor coach.

For more information contact the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust at 708-848-1976.

Photo credit: SXC

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