Bradley House
Kankakee, IL 1900
The features of the Bradley House would come to characterize Wright’s mature Prairie-style buildings. It has a cruciform plan, with the living room and kitchen on the main axis, the dining room and reception room on the cross axis, and a large central fireplace at the intersection. The ends of the low-pitched cross-gable roofs cant slightly upward, adding a subtle Japanese element—the only design feature taken from a foreign influence. Instead of heavy masonry Wright used lighter wood-stud construction sheathed in stucco. In the mid-1950s, the 6,000-square-foot house was converted to a restaurant and in 2005 it was purchased by a local couple who undertook a five-year restoration. It is now owned by the nonprofit Wright in Kankakee.
For more information:
wright1900.org