The oldest home on Wright Plus 2009 is the Michael Carter house, built in 1860. This residence has never been on the tour before. The oldest home on the Wright Plus house walk (group tickets on sale now) will be the Michael Carter House -- built in 1860 -- the year Lincoln was elected president.
The 1860 home is one of four that have never been on the highly anticipated annual event before. Here are the others:
The home was designed by the Tallmadge & Watson architectural firm, which worked with the new Prairie style.
Vernon S. Watson (1878-1950) studied architecture at the Armour Institute of Technology (now the Illinois Institute of Technology). He worked in the office of Daniel Burnham, and it was here that he met his future partner, Thomas Eddy Tallmadge.
Tallmadge & Watson did most of their 31-year practice at the Security Building, 189 W. Madison, it's noted at Prairiestyles.com. From the beginning, it was evident that Watson was responsible for the Prairie designs that the firm produced. Tallmadge (1876-1940) was more widely known because of his activities as an author/historian and teacher, the Web site says.
One of the last projects that Watson worked on was the design of the Julia C. Lathrop Homes, a public housing project at Diversey and Damen, a mix of two- and three-story apartments and row houses.
Incidentally, Thomas E. Tallmadge also was known for designing a street light in the 1920s that is still in use today in Oak Park and Evanston.
This residence was designed by E.E. Roberts, who began his career in Chicago as a site superintendent for Solon Beman during the construction of Pullman on Chicago's South Side in the 1880s.
In 1893, he moved to Oak Park and established the village's largest architectural firm. He designed more than 200 homes in many different styles, including some with Prairie characteristics, notes the Historical Society of Oak Park and River Forest.
George Washington Maher, the architect, worked with Frank Lloyd Wright as draftsmen in Joseph Silsbee's firm. Maher established his own practice in 1893, and he designed the Charles Erwin II house 103 years ago.
Maher frequently used a plant or a flower as a repeating theme in his homes.
The tour also will include the Henry Golbeck House, designed in 1915 by Tallmadge & Watson. (This home has been on Wright Plus previously).
