OK, this is neither a park unit nor a heritage site, but there are a dozen Frank Lloyd Wright houses within a block or two, well worth a short stroll. And this was his working home, which he built at age 22 in 1889 and where he designed many of his best works. (Suburban Chicago ‘villages’ like this one grew rapidly after the Great Fire in 1871). Until you see the neighborhood with the fancy Victorian homes that were there when Wright began his career, it’s difficult to appreciate what he was competing against. Wright demonstrated that Americans could innovate and not merely copy European styles.

The home is notable for its Egyptian influence. At the time, Americans understood the East—near, mid & far—broadly as ‘Oriental’, and Wright even blended Mayan, Japanese and Egyptian styles together, in his own exotic mythology, not copied but stolen, reimagined and given new interpretation and life. Wright also used the home to experiment with bay windows, recessed lighting and various high ceilings and to display such modern conveniences as indoor plumbing and electricity. The home has been restored to 1907 including some rare pieces of furniture—and a Steinway built into a staircase that you have to see to believe—, to capture more of Wright’s ideas which reappear perfected in his later masterpieces.