Inventing the New American House: Howard Van Doren Shaw and Frank Lloyd Wright

Described by the architect Thomas Tallmadge as “the most rebellious of the conservatives, and the most conservative of the rebels,” Howard Van Doren Shaw was a prolific Chicago architect who designed substantial houses in prosperous communities, including Lake Forest, Illinois, the Hyde Park-Kenwood section of Chicago and Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.

Shaw, like Wright and the other Prairie School architects, explored ideas and concepts that helped transform twentieth-century architecture - the continuity of interior spaces, the relationship of a building to its site, and the visual connection of interior and exterior spaces. However, in contrast to Wright’s progressive Prairie Style, Shaw’s architecture adapted classical designs rooted in English and Italian antecedents. While his work drew heavily on traditional sources, Shaw was skilled at adapting these historic elements to suit contemporary living. Ultimately overshadowed by the visionary Wright, Shaw’s work remains an important feature in many of Chicago’s most prominent neighborhoods.

A book signing with Stuart Cohen will take place immediately following the lecture. The Seminary Co-op Book store is partnering with the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust for the program and will be onsite selling copies of Inventing the New American House, Howard Van Doren Shaw, Architect.

About the speaker

Stuart Cohen is professor emeritus in the department of architecture at the University of Illinois Chicago. He has taught architecture as a visiting professor at universities throughout the U.S., including Harvard, Columbia, and the University of Pennsylvania and has lectured at the Smithsonian Institution and The Art Institute of Chicago. A practicing architect, he is a partner in the firm of Stuart Cohen & Julie Hacker Architects LLC. Their traditional residential work has been widely published both nationally and internationally. Stuart Cohen is a fellow of the American Institute and author of Chicago Architects. He is co-author ofNorth Shore Chicago Houses of the Lakefront Suburbs: 1890-1940 and Great Houses of Chicago: 1871-1921.

For more information and to register, visit http://flwright.org/programs/enrichment1