William Winslow House For Sale
John Hill
9. December 2013
Photo: Oak Park Cycle Club/Flickr
Frank Lloyd Wright's 1894 masterpiece in River Forest, near Chicago, is on sale for the first time in nearly 60 years.
On December 16, Frank Lloyd Wright's famous William Winslow House in River Forest, Illinois, is being listed with Jameson Sotheby's for $2.4 million. This is the first time since 1955 that the 1894 house is being sold, following the 55-year tenure of the Walker family. Peter Walker, whose parents bought the house in 1958, is selling the house after his mother died in April; his father died in 1994.
The house's significance lies primarily in the fact Wright called it his first independent commission after he left the office of Louis Sullivan. While the house does not yet bear all of the marks of Wright's Prairie Style, which he developed in nearby Oak Park, the horizontality of the house under the dominant hip roof is certainly a precursor to his personal style and an elegant design in its own right.