house preservation

The Battle To Save A Frank Lloyd Wright Classic

Filed under: Estates

The B. Harley Bradley House in Kankakee, Illinois may not look like much to the uninitiated but preservationists interested in preserving the legacy of architect Frank Lloyd Wright want to make sure it has a new life as a house museum and arts education center. Some say that the home marks the beginning of the architect's Prairie Style.

Pieces of the home have already been removed and auctioned off. Years ago Barbra Streisand paid $176,000 for its Frank Lloyd Wright-designed desk. This week a pair of leaded-glass windows, removed from the dining room sideboard years ago, sold for $15,000 at Christie's New York. Blair Kamin, who writes the Chicago Tribune's Cityscapes blog reports that a University of Illinois architecture professor and his wife hope to turn the house over to activists to create a Frank Lloyd Wright center. They want $1.9 million, a price which would make this one of the town's top properties.

The nonprofit Wright in Kankakee foundation hopes to raise $170,000 by June for a down payment. So far they've got around $70,000. While the exterior of the seven-bedroom structure may seem a bit humble (it's no Fallingwater), the interior is another matter. The home features many of Wright's beautiful art glass windows and the elegantly-proportioned rooms are full of Wright's carefully crafted wood built-in pieces.

Tags: architecture preservation, bradley house, frank lloyd wright, house museums, house preservation, illinois, kankakee, prairie style, preservationist