Frederick C. Robie House Restoration

This article appeared in the August 2019 issue of ARCHITECT.

Frank Lloyd Wright’s Robie House in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago was considered a tour de force when it was completed for bicycle maker Frederick Robie and his family in 1910, but the life of a building—even one considered by The American Institute of Architects to be among the 10 most significant structures of the 20th century—doesn’t always run smoothly. Thankfully, recently completed interior renovations led by local preservation architect T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA, showcase Wright’s design more clearly than it’s been seen in a century.

The house served as a single-family residence for just 16 years, and was twice under threat of demolition by the Chicago Theological Seminary, which owned the building and used it as a dormitory between 1926 and 1958. It was the first structure to be declared a Chicago Landmark (in 1957), the first National Historic Landmark to be named solely on the basis of its architectural merit (in 1963), and one of the first examples of Modern architecture to be named a UNESCO World Heritage Site (this year, along with seven other Wright designs).

The scope of work for this most recent restoration was built on earlier projects and limited to the main spaces of the lowest two floors—the entry, billiard room, and children’s playroom on the ground level, and the living room and dining room on the second floor. A new front door with art glass has been fabricated according to Wright’s original design. Rich red magnesite floors on the ground level have been restored based on original materials—a magnified view revealed the presence of minuscule wood chips in the finish, an unexpected discovery that allowed for a precise match.

A restored inglenook—long since removed—returns the spatial concept of the living room to Wright’s original plan. Without the millwork seat, the central fireplace appeared to be almost classical in composition, sitting symmetrically at the center of the house and separating the living room from the dining room. The space in front of the fireplace now becomes a separate yet integral part of a more nuanced composition: one that provides an asymmetrical sitting area adjacent to the hearth, while better defining the small space at the top of the stairway that sets up the progression from the downstairs entry to living room.

But the most revelatory change is the restored plaster and paint finishes throughout the first and second floors of the house. Harboe carries a pricey little hand microscope that reveals the intricacy of the plaster finishes, where exposed sand aggregate carries a light application of darker colors that give the surface its depth. “That’s where the magic is that’s been missing,” Harboe says. “It has depth and subtlety and variety. It changes every time you look at it, depending on the way the light is hitting it.”

The complex geometries of Wright’s windows cast intricate shadows on the surfaces of the interior. But it’s only now that these surfaces have been fully restored to their original richness and depth that we can see Wright’s genius in rendering an abstracted ornamental scheme that genuinely reflects the complexity of nature itself. Where his mentor Louis Sullivan accomplished similar effects through elaborate reconceptions of traditional surface ornament, Wright takes this to another level, where architecture is achieved in an ethereal manner that requires one experience it in person because it transcends even the most sophisticated pictorial portrayal. The Robie House has always been understood as a work of sublime accomplishment, but it’s only now that it can be fully seen.

Having worked closely with Wright’s work on several projects has only deepened Harboe’s appreciation: “The guy was everything he said he was,” he says. “I don’t think you can exaggerate this: He was a creative genius.”

Project Credits
Project: Frederick C. Robie House Restoration, Chicago
Client: Frank Lloyd Wright Trust · Karen Sweeney, AIA (project manager)
Architect: Harboe Architects, Chicago · T. Gunny Harboe, FAIA (principal); Robert Score, AIA (project architect); Mark Kasprzyk, AIA (architect)
General Contractor: Bulley & Andrews
Materials Conservator: Building Conservation Associates
Stained Glass Consultant: Julie L. Sloan S
ize: 9,063 square feet (total), 3,700 square feet (project area)
Cost: $2.6 million