Two unusual homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and a tiny house built by students from the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences are among the outstanding stops on the 2017 Beverly Hills/Morgan Park Home Tour hosted by the Beverly Area Planning Association on Sun., May 21, 12 to 5 p.m.
2 Rare Wrights
This is the 150th anniversary of the architect Frank Lloyd Wright’s birth, as well as the 100th anniversary of the construction of Wright’s Guy C. Smith House in Beverly/Morgan Park. The Guy C. Smith House and the Jesse & William Adams House, both Chicago Landmarks, will be open for the Tour. They are rare and distinctive examples of Wright’s work.
The Guy C. Smith house is one of two American System Built homes designed by Wright and built in our community in 1917. Wright’s goal was to offer livable and beautiful prefabricated housing at a moderate price. Only a few of the homes were built before the US entered World War I and construction was halted. The current owners have spent more than 25 years carefully restoring the house. It was last on BAPA’s Home Tour a decade ago, and since that time has undergone a complete renovation of its spacious yard that includes the installation of a Wright-inspired pond and all new landscaping.
Built in 1901, the Jesse and William Adams house was designed during an important period of transition for Frank Lloyd Wright as he was developing his Prairie Style. The home’s owner, William Adams, a contractor and builder who worked with prominent architects on residential and commercial buildings, commissioned Wright to design it. Prairie Style elements in the Adams house can be seen in the horizontal design and the way the porch connects the home’s interior and exterior. The Adams house was last on BAPA’s Home Tour in 1996.
Also Featured on the Tour
The Home Tour starts at Ridge Park, 9625 S. Longwood Dr., Chicago, where people must check-in to receive their booklets, which are required for admission into the homes. All tours must begin by 3 p.m. The Ridge Park fieldhouse is the first stop on the tour, and people are invited to visit meeting rooms and spaces not usually open the public, as well as the John H. Vanderpoel Art Association art gallery which, during the Home Tour, will be hosting the opening of an exhibit by Steve Gerhartz, a plein air artist from Two Rivers, Wisc.
The Tour will also open the doors to an exceptional Prairie Style house built in 1910 that has been renovated from top to bottom for a contemporary family lifestyle; an English style home designed by Homer G. Sailor and built in 1930 for a prominent Chicago financier; a Colonial Revival Foursquare built in 1903 on a wooded lot atop ridge; as well as the tiny house built for display at Chicago’s Home and Garden Show by students at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences.
Home Tour stops feature a cooking demonstration and tasting by Chef Alvin Green, experts offering home and garden advice, a Paint Showcase sponsored by Calumet Paint and Benjamin Moore, a mead tasting by Wild Blossom Meadery, a vintage golf activity by Klees Golf Shop, an art demonstration by Judie Anderson and more.
Home Tour Sponsors
The Beverly/Morgan Park Home Tour is sponsored by Mike Haggerty Buick GMC Volkswagen, Beverly Bank, Marquette Bank, The Private Bank, Road Home Program, Beverly Hills Animal Hospital, AT&T, 19th Ward Youth Foundation, County Fair Foods, Pendo Advisors, PLS, PRS Professional Real Estate Services, Pacor Mortgage Corp., Commissioner Bridget Gainer, Smith Village, Berkshire Hathaway Home Services Biros Real Estate, Steuber Florist & Greenhouses, Coldwell Banker, Ryan & Joyce Developers, Solution 3 Graphics, The Beverly Review, RMH Interiors + Design.
Buy Your Tickets Today!
Tickets for the Beverly/Morgan Park Home Tour are $30 in advance and $35 at the door, and available online at www.bapa.org or at the BAPA office, 1987 W. 111th St., Mon. through Thurs., 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information on the event, volunteering or becoming a sponsor, contact bapa@bapa.org.
