Frederick C. Robie Research Paper

The house that was built in Chicago for Frederick C. Robie is all too familiar as an image and not much record as a tangible reality .Though it still stands, there is some debate as to whether it holds the pristine architectural history which its architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, and owner primarily designed for. Some illustrations and drawing documentation exist in the sense of the various individuals tied to relatives of the house or those who have done research but it has been in a stage of fading memoir since Wright, himself, tried to save the home.
Frank Lloyd Wright believed in the beauty and perfection of nature; nature should be the great source of inspiration for architecture. To Wright, the organic forms of nature are what holistically …show more content…
Robie lived in a man’s world and seldom referred to his wife when conversing with others on his life happenings. Wright found in Robie a venturesome business man, a parallel to his style of design as he had the ability to digest anything he liked very rapidly in his head and dispensing something of his own candor. Agreeing with this aura of ability to change even the most ordinary sites into places of wonder and enchantment, Robie and Wright designed the radical level of masculinity found in the Robie house; a part of Chicago which was stern and declarative towards its context. Robie approached Wright around Christmas of 1906 presenting him with some sketches of the work he wanted done. Reminiscing around 1958, Robie claimed that he had gone to Wright knowing exactly what type of house he had wanted “ no junk” in the way of superfluous domestic ornamentation: no curtains so that maximum sunlight could puncture the interior, a wall around the yard to keep the children in and kidnappers out, rooms with no interruptions, and a view out to his neighbors without relinquishing any level of privacy. Robie had every reason to think that he was going places, his new house in Hyde Park looked very much as if it might be. To be seen someday as a complete expression of ideas and ideals of its architect Frank Lloyd Wright it was destined to be one of …show more content…
This meant a plan which was open, similar to Le Corbusier’s concept of free plan. Mirroring Corbu again was the addition of ribbon windows. Eventually getting along with the idea of apertures and exposing some level of privacy, Wright composed a façade to the Robie House which contributed to a completely new concept and thus breaking an old-age tradition of architecture. In some of his early designs, Wright stands within the limits of a static building face, a century old definition of facade: solid, symmetrical, and set to right angles from the axis of approach. Transitioning to the Robie House, the dramatics of deceit were brought into the mix as there was no apparent front door or façade for the street on the axis which Wright designed. Being that the interior possesses hardly any solid walls, it seems to the passerby that the building is assembled out of large blocks, roofs which float freely, and horizontal lines to carry the eyes through a continuous sequence. Contribution to this line of movement is the distinguishing feature by which the house is immediately recognized, the infamous cantilever roof which extends to a maximum of twenty feet beyond the last structural support. This, like many facets of the Robie House, deceives one