Today was our second day of FLW tours. We walked back to Palmer House for breakfast, then messed about wondering how to get to the south of the city. The book wasn't very helpful, the L didn't seem to go close to where we needed to be and the Metra only runs every hour. We decided on a taxi, and soon found one who whisked us down the road for $20! Once again there was quite a queue for the Robie House, but after only about 3/4 hour, we were starting our tour. Another amazing story, as three times the Catholic Seminary who bought it when it was in disrepair, wanted to demolish it to build an awful dormitory block for its students. FLW galvanised support for his successful campaign to save the house which he considered one of his finest pieces. I think they spited him by virtually wrecking the interior, even putting his dining table and chairs on the street for the dustbin men! Luckily someone spotted them and saved them for the Museum. They are on display in the Smart Museum. The Wright Foundation acquired the house and had to begin a programme of complete renovation starting with the iron frame of the building. This is on going as they raise funds for the work. The second house on this side of town is the Isadore Heller House, Hyde Park. We walked down to Starbucks for a coffee before continuing on to the house and joining the queue there. Still not too long compared with yesterday, so we were relatively quickly starting the tour. This house is a strange mix as FLW was still part of Sullivan's practice when he designed the house. It has some of Sullivan's signature details as well as FLW's first Prairie style elegance - long horizontals, a few art glass windows and different height ceilings to define spaces. A lift was put in several of years after its construction, which FLW did, but some of his ideas were not executed when the house was built. It is now up for sale for something between 800k and maybe 2million dollars, but it needs another few million spending on it to get it back to former glory.



After this visit, we took the trolley shuttle to the Smart Museum and saw the FLW dining set, dressing table and a window. We also found Henry Moore's Nuclear Energy that commemorates the first controlled nuclear reaction, 2 December1942. We walked on through the university buildings to the park and the L, and took the Green Line back up to State/Lake, from where we walked up to Trump Tower and took the lift to 16th floor, took in the view and left again. It was hopping up there as people enjoyed sitting out on the patio for a drink, late lunch or early dinner. We strolled along Wabash, enjoying the sun and the buildings. Dinner at the hotel was shared shrimp toast, sea bass, chicken, creme brûlée and ice cream. We had wheat beer and Garnet Pinot Noir (Monterey Bay).



Palmer House Hotel
Frank Lloyd Wright
Smart Museum