Prairie School
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.
The works of these architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands, integration with the landscape, solid construction, craftsmanship, and discipline in the use of ornament. Horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the native prairie landscape.
The term "Prairie School" was not actually used by these architects to describe themselves; the term was coined by H. Allen Brooks, one of the first architectural historians to write extensively about these architects and their work.
Prairie style houses
Frank Lloyd Wright originated the Prairie Style (open plans, horizontality, natural materials) which was part of the American Arts and Crafts movement (hand craftsmanship, simplicity, function) an alternative to the then-dominant Classical Revival Style (Greek forms with occasional Roman influences). He was also heavily influenced by the Idealistic Romantics (better homes would create better people) and the Modernist Movement. Particularly the Minimalists (less is more) and Bauhaus (form follows function), which was a mixture of De Stijl (grid-based design) and Constructivism (which emphasized the structure itself and the building materials), would be influenced by the Prairie School
The Darwin D. Martin House, in Buffalo, NY, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is a famous prairie style house.
See also
