Product Description

A classic study of the roots of modern architecture in America.

H. Allen Brooks discusses the entire phenomenon of the Prairie School—not just the masters but the work of their contemporaries, assessing each architect's contribution. He also traces the course of the movement itself—how and why it came into existence, what it achieved, and what caused its abrupt end. 250 illustrations.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #993720 in Books
• Published on: 2006-03-27
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 400 pages

About the Author
H. Allen Brooks has written extensively about Frank Lloyd Wright. He lives in Hanover, New Hampshire.

Customer Reviews

Prairie School but not necessarily Prairie Style
This is an exhaustive history of the Prairie School although it is somewhat academic and dry. Its primarily about the people clustered around Louis Sullivan and Frank LLoyd Wright and their diverse work in a couple of decades around the start of last century.

It is not limited to domestic architecture that most now would consider to be 'Prairie Style' as it includes other domestic styles and structures such as banks, schools, churchs undertaken by these people.

Highly recommended for architectural scholars and enthusiasts
Award-winning architecture scholar and former president of the Society of Architectural Historians H. Allen Brooks presents The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries, an in-depth discussion of the American architectural development and the "Prairie School", a regional manifestation of a forward-thinking reform movement in the visual arts. Inspired by Louis Sullivan and brought to fruition by famous architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the Prairie School sought to reinvent methods of architectural expression while retaining practicality, and often featured angular forms (much better than flat-topped forms in lands with heavy snowfall upon local roofs) and intricate interior designs. Illustrated with a copious amount of black-and-white photographs and diagrams, The Prairie School: Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries draws heavily upon previously unpublished material, original documentation, and interviews to recount the course of the movement, including how and why it came into existence, its achievements, its foibles, and its unfortunate end. Highly recommended for architectural scholars and enthusiasts.

Your Prairie-School "Home Companion"!

If you want a basic overview of the Midwestern architects who, along with Frank Lloyd Wright, were bringing about an entirely new kind of architecture in the early years of the 20th Century, then H. Allen Brooks' book is precisely what you need. Brooks takes time to explore the friends, associates, students, rivals, imitators and admirers of Mr. Wright's architectural idiom. There is also a fine overview of Louis Sullivan here.

Many of them got it ... (one cannot resist the pun)... Wright. Many of them created homes and buildings that ought to be better known than they are. Many of them solved problems dealing with space and its enclosure so creatively that these buildings are still most pleasing, aesthetically. As the Century progressed, the Prairie School architecture met with a mixed fate. Some of these brilliant architects flamed out. Others sold out to the mock Tudors of the Twenties and the white Colonials with the picket fence. If one has ever wondered why, Brooks has an answer for that. One that may surprise you.

The book is profusely illustrated. Please understand that the many fine illustrations are presented in black and white. This will whet your appetite. Once you buy this book, you can use it as a research tool. For instance, you can then go on line and find color photos of many of the buildings represented, or additional information about specific architects. You will want to do that, because like a good smorgasbord, Brooks' book makes you hungry for more.

And here is another idea. If you live in one of the places which were fortunate enough to have Wright or Sullivan or their followers at work...do what you can to make sure that these homes and other buildings are preserved. A shocking number of Walter Burley Griffin houses have been disappearing of late. If you have a voice speak up. If you have the wherewithall, why not buy and restore one of these gems?

A dear friend of mine, a smart and engaging lady who has now gone to her eternal rest, was an original F LL W client and she told me more than once that the best education she ever had was living in her Wright house. Wright may be beyond your budget...but some of these other architects' buildings can be had for what you would pay for a new four bedroom place in your town that looks like everybody else's house.

Okay, commercial is over.

If you live in the Midwest, get this book and use it as a "destination guide" for day trips. What fun!