FLW - The Robie House & The Museum of Science

Prairie Style - Robie House

 So yesterday we visited the Frank Lloyd home near the University of Chicago.  Mr. Wright built this

The house is stunning, but not well suited for winter weather.  Everyone who lived there said it was very cold in the main level during the winter months. 

So, one has to conclude that while Mr. Wright was very good at some parts of design, he missed the mark on a couple of key points.  Livability being one of them.

Robie House - Prairie School, Hyde Park, Chicago

home for the Robie family in 1904 and the family lived there for eighteen months.  The next family, the Taylors, lived there for just over a year when Mr. Taylor had a heart attack, and then a third family moved in until 1926.  The house then went to a Seminary who used it for several years and then wanted to raze it for a new dorm.  Frank Lloyd Wright argued to save the home, and he did it again in 1957.  The University of Chicago and the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Society now are restoring the building.

 So, one has to conclude that while Mr. Wright was very good at some parts of design, he missed the mark on a couple of key points.  Livability being one of them.


After looking at the wonderful design of the Robie House we moved on the Museum of Science and Industry. 

David, Laura, Elena, Steve, & Maddy

U-boat 505

I spent a large part of my visit at the display for the U-boat 505 that was captured by a Chicago native.  While I didn’t buy a ticket to go in the U-boat, I did listen and read all the information about the story.  I am so very happy that I didn’t live during World War Two, where I might have had to spend my life navigating around the north Atlantic.

Among the terrifying facts  I learned  the U-boats hung out in the middle of the Atlantic - out of the range of airplanes and they hunted at night.  How terrifying to be on a merchant ship and to go to bed each night wondering if you will see the morning.  In 1943 over 1, 100 merchant ships where sunk.  That is about three a day.  I don’t know how many crossed the Atlantic, but it still seems like a very dicey business.

We then made our way back home and later we went out to dinner, where I had my first sushi.

The highlight of the evening was driving to the teen night club, Zero Gravity in Naperville.  The Apple maps where off by a couple of miles, so we didn’t get there until 11 p.m.  We left Maddy and Elena there for about 90 minutes and then we headed back home.  We got in at 2 a.m. this morning.  Hmmm.