Lost Chicago Building 8 - Frank Lloyd Wright's Husser House
Joseph and Helen Husser House (demolished), 1899, 178 to 182 W. Buena Ave., Chicago, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect
Joseph Husser House, 1899, Frank Lloyd Wright, architect; viewed from the southwest c. 1900
Only recently, I found out that there was a significant Frank Lloyd Wright house, long since lost, in my own neighborhood. A few blocks from where I live, the Joseph Husser House once stood on Buena Ave., in the Buena Park area of Chicago. The more I look at illustrations of this residence, the more remarkable it seems. Completed in 1899, the Husser House seems a transitional work, between Wright's earlier, boxy residential designs and his future prairie style masterpieces.
From Eric J. Nordstrom's Urban Remains post, he claims that "When looking closely at the house's ornamentation (e.g., exterior frieze, arches, etc.), wright still resides in [Louis] Sullivan's orbit, but at the same time, his use of more distinct and strongly geometric forms and/or patterns pushed him towards a style of his own."
In Frank Lloyd Wright's An Autobiography, he described the Husser home as "characterized to a certain extent by the Sullivanian idiom, at least in detail" (p.127). Wright designed the Husser home five years after the Winslow Residence (1894), three years after the Heller Residence (1896) and two years after the Furbeck Residence (1897). It was his last commission utilizing Louis Sullivan's exterior ornamentations as he moved toward and perfected his prairie styled homes.
Wright placed an announcement in the July 2, 1899 issue of The Economist. "F. L. Wright has designed for Helen W. Husser a two-story residence to be built at 178 to 182 Buena Avenue. It will extend over an area of 73x 28 feet, and the cost is given at $18,000. In the June 1900 issue of "The Architectural Review", Plate XXXVII was entitled "House for Mrs. Helen W. Husser"....
www.steinerag.com
Plate XXXVII: House for Joseph and Helen W. Husser, Buena Ave., Lake View, Illinois. Mr. Frank Lloyd Wright, Architect.
Inscription Center Right: "Dwelling for Mr. Joseph W. Husser, Buena Av. Lake View Suburban Lot. One Hundred and Thirty by One Hundred Feet. Broadside to Lake Michigan. Frank Lloyd Wright Architect, 1899."
Inscription Near Bottom Right: "Interior Walls of Lower Entrance and Principal Rooms Lined With Slender Roman Bricks. Light Tan in Color Carrying Gold Insertion and Inlaid Bands of Olive Oak. Plaster Dead Gold."
Inscription Bottom Right: "Exterior Walls Faced With Dry-yellow Roman Bricks.
Horizontal Joints Wide and Raked out to Emphasize Horizontal Grain. Vertical
Joints Stopped Flush with Mortar the Color of the Bricks. Stone Trimmings.
Terra Cotta Capitals. Frieze in Stucco Relief. Soffits Plain in Plaster.
Roof Covering of Light Red Flat Tiles Without Modeled Trimmings. Hips and
Ridges Clean."
Plate XXXVII published in "The Architectural Record", March 1908. Copyright 1900 By Bates & Guild Company.
Illustration courtesy of Building 51 Archive
Sanborn Map, 1905, showing Husser House on north side of Buena Ave., between Clarendon and Marine.
Former site of Husser House, W. Buena Ave. between Gordon Terrace (south) and Hutchinson St. (formerly Kenesaw Terrace)(north).
The entrance to the house was via an entrance pergola and porte-cochère on the ground level. Main entry was at the bottom of the stair bay; service areas, servants' rooms, playroom, and other basic functions were on the ground level, which served as the "basement." Above is the main floor plan, on the second level, which provided views over Lake Michigan.
Above three photographs: William Gray Purcell Papers, Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota Libraries, Minneapolis, MN.
Architect William Gray Purcell (of the firm Purcell and Elmslie), visited the house in 1911 and took five photographs, of which two are probably the only extant interior photos of the residence.
Husser House viewed from the southeast. Adaptation of Frank Lloyd Wright's design by Douglas M. Steiner.
Frieze and living room fireplace illustration, Husser House
John H. Waters, in the case study Looking for the Lost Husser House, claims that several elements in the house reflect both Wright's past and future work, including the influence of his mentor Louis Sullivan in the decoration on capitals of the entry colonnade and of the second-floor porch. The third-floor frieze reminds him of similar friezes at the Winslow House (1893) in River Forest, Illinois, and the Heller House (1896) in Chicago’s Hyde Park. Within a year, Wright would abandon the "literal representation of plant life and other organic sources for the abstracted, angular interpretations that are found in his Prairie-period work."
Winslow House (left); Heller House (right)
Husser House frieze details from some of the above illustrations
Signs of Wright's future Prairie work can also be found. Just over two years after the Husser House, Wright would adopt the Husser's overall cruciform plan in a much more sophisticated manner at his 1901 Willits House in Highland Park, Illinois. As well, the octagonal porch of the Husser House foreshadows the west porch of the Robie House (1908), although "...the dynamism of the cantilevered roof of the Robie House porch is a world away from the column-supported Husser House porch roof."
One could argue that the Husser House has neither the refinement of the Heller or Winslow Houses, or the masterful brilliance of the Willits or Robie Houses. But the fact that in the Husser House we can see Wright working out certain design ideas that will contribute to the brilliance of those later works makes the house just as fascinating as the masterpieces that follow it.
Looking for the Lost Husser House
Husser House renderings from the Northwest Architectural Archive, University of Minnesota:
Not much is known about the Hussers' lives in their new home. Based on available historical records, the Joseph J. Husser House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright in 1899, was sold in July 1923 for $105,000 following the death of its owner, shortly before it was demolished c. 1924.
Dining room set from the Husser House, The Huntington Library. More information on the set's provenance is here.
Joseph and Helen Husser Residence, Chicago (1899 - S.046), The Wright Library, www.steinerag.com
Danielle on Design, Dining Suite from FLW’s Husser House
Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Looking for the Lost Husser House
Northwest Architectural Archives, University of Minnesota, Joseph Husser House
Frank Lloyd Wright Newsletter Vol. 2 No. 1 1979
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