Early Twentieth-Century
Building Styles,
1905-1925
Prairie School, 1905-25
The early work of Frank Lloyd Wright and his Midwest associates gave rise to the Prairie Style, popular during the first two decades of the 20th century. In addition to creating clean, precise, angular forms, the Prairie School emphasized horizontality. Masonry or stucco walls contributed to a spare appearance.
Details such as wood or cast stone banding might accentuate the texture of the materials. Leaded or stained glass windows contribute abstract patterns.
Residential, ecclesiastical, and civic buildings used this innovative style; it was particularly popular in Utah for residences and for LDS Church meetinghouses. Residential designs included one-story, narrow, masonry bungalows, well-suited to narrow city lots, and larger, symmetrical, two-story houses, nearly square or rectangular in form, with casement windows and hipped roofs with wide, overhanging eaves.
Characteristics:
--low, hipped roof
--wide, overhanging eaves
--brick masonry, stucco over masonry, or stucco over wood frame construction
--single-story porch or porte cochere projecting from the house
--horizontal bands of cast stone or concrete coping
--wood banding on wall surfaces and under eaves
--casement windows with geometric patterns created in stained and/or leaded glass or with wooden muntins
--mullions topped with cast geometric ornamentation
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