Real Estate

Frank Lloyd Wright House Walk: Cessna House

I took the Frank Lloyd Wright house walk in Oak Park last weekend, and we're featuring one home each day. Today, we look at the Cessna House by EE Roberts, who popularized the Prairie style more than Wright.

The Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust's House Walk was Saturday, May 18, and this week we'll be featuring one of the homes each day. The event put the spotlight on local homes designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and his contemporaries. Of the 11 spots open for touring, I was able to make six. 

Today we feature the Charles E. Cessna house, located at 524 N. Oak Park Ave. It was built in 1906 by E.E. Roberts. A few things to know:

  • Roberts is credited more than Wright with popularizing the Prairie style, because he would cater to his clients' whims more.
  • Cessna was a medical doctor but later lost his license after selling patent medicines in the mail. He was also called a loan shark by the Tribune. 
  • The home itself is beautiful, with the most notable feature being the grouping of nine art glass windows that extend the length of the main stairwell landing. The master bedroom has an interior window, allowing it to look out at this art glass.
  • The kitchen has a charcoal grill installed beneath a slide-off countertop. 

More from the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust:

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

Here, Roberts combines an array of eclectic elements to create an imposing, symmetrical interpretation of the Prairie style. The heavy hipped roof is made of terra cotta tiles, unusual in the Prairie style, and the dormers are capped so deep they obscure the window tops. The raised full-width porch with mosaic tiles and massive piers adds to the feeling of formality.

The home's main staircase rises above a banded barrel vault and displays a grouping of nine art glass windows that depict the stylized trees with interlocking branches. This area also features a carved newel post, an original art glass light fixture and interior facing art glass windows.

Interested in local real estate?Subscribe to Patch's new newsletter to be the first to know about open houses, new listings and more.

The study and dining room stand out with extensive quarter-sawn oak paneling and trim. The study also oasts pocket doors and landscape=scene art glass, while the dining room includes a built-in sideboard and china cabinets, coffered beams and iris-themed art glass.

Cessna stood out in a time and place where those who retained architects to design their homes were usually pillars of the community. An 1885 graduate of Rush Medical College, he practiced medicine for only a decade before pursuing other business ventures that made him quite wealthy but also led the Chicago Tribune to call him a loan shark.

He was involved in questionable real estate dealings in the Florida panhandle and sold patent medicines through the mail. The latter eventually led to charges of mail fraud and the loss of his medical license. 

Boston native Eben Ezra Roberts, born in 1866, arrived in Chicago in the lates 1880s. He soon became clerk of the works on Solon S. Beman's massive Pullman company town project. In 1893 he moved to Oak Park had established his own practice. Known today as the Prairie style's great populizer—unlike Wright, he was happy to cater to his clients' every whim—Roberts became Oak Park's most prolific architect. To date, some 200 local homes have been identified as his work. 

See more homes from the tour:

Goodrich House



Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here