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| The house at 1318 Isabella Street, Wilmette, Illinois, designed in the Prairie School-style by Frank Lloyd Wright associate John Van Bergen in 1927. |
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| The cottage next door at 1320 Isabella St. designed in 1920 by Rudolph Schindler when he was running Wright’s Oak Park studio. |
A dilemma has been resolved in Wilmette, Illinois. It is there that two houses associated with American architect Frank Lloyd Wright stand side by side. Both were purchased by developer George Hausen, who had plans to raze them, unaware of their historical value - until preservationists stepped in. To resolve the matter, Hausen agreed to sell the Van Bergen home (1st image) under the stipulation that it would not be significantly modified or demolished, and listed it earlier this month for $599,000. As long as a buyer can be found in the next 4 months, the house will remain standing. “If the house doesn’t sell, there comes a time where I can’t just sit on it forever and hope that it sells,”says Hausen. But that left the smaller cottage next door, the Schindler house (2nd image), in jeopardy - until Joseph Catrambone saved the day. After hearing about the issue and undergoing a selection process, he signed the deed for the 594 sq. ft. Schindler cottage. The good news: it cost the Oak Brook-based contractor and real estate manager a mere $1. The bad news: it will cost him at least $7,000 to dismantle the structure and an estimated $40,000 to reconstruct it. Catrambone had only 2 weeks to put together a plan and acquire the necessary permits to meticulously disassemble and remove the house, which he will rebuild in Wauconda. “I wake up in the morning thinking how crazy I am. It’s exciting and crazy all at the same time,” he said. Catrambone's family will use the house, but he also plans to rent it out to Wright aficionados to help cover the project costs, observing, “The only way you can understand Prairie School architecture is to stay in it.”
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Previous posts about Frank Lloyd Wright:
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Both looking so lovely. In this lifestyle living was never so cosmopolitan when over 50 percent of the space is dedicated for the clean and green environment. I impressed by that.
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