PRAIRIE ON THE LAKES
A Study of the Prairie School architectural designs
on Geneva and Delavan Lakes, Wisconsin
(structural and landscape; residential and commercial)

by
John K. Notz, Jr.

Delivered to
The Chicago Literary Club
October 7, 1996

The following quotation is from Charles Edward Cooper's "The Country House" (Doubleday, Page & Company, 1905), bought by me in a used book sale of the Lake Geneva Public Library:

"[In the construction of a "country house", the] first problem, that of the site, is most important. . . ." (at 4)

". . . If . . . you desire that your house and other buildings shall form . . . one whole and complete composition clear to the limit of its bounds, then it is highly important that the scheme of such a composition be thoroughly thought out and decided, before the building site is disturbed in any way. It is important, too, that the general layout be either by the house architect and landscape architect acting together, or by one party who thoroughly understands both professions. Unless this is done, the gardening is handicapped by the house, and the house does not have the advantage of the garden setting to aid in its planning. The service that the two professions can render to one another at the start is not to be underestimated. Often, it results in, practically, the saving of the whole scheme. . . . [L]et the designer call himself what he may, so long as his understanding of these two (unfortunately separated) professions shall enable him to plan and execute the harmonious whole. Let us hope that the present tendency to unite these kindred arts shall result in the future designer becoming a master of both." (at 275)

This text provoked me into considering the extent to which Prairie School architects (both structural and landscape) were in a position to influence their clients into such coordination of site usage, and whether any clients of Prairie School architects were so influential as to effect such an approach to a project. My inquiries have led me to the subject matter of this paper: "A Study of the Prairie School Architectural Designs on Geneva and Delavan Lakes, Wisconsin", where my wife and I have a second home. Much of my research has been in the Aram Public Library of Delavan and in the Lake Geneva Public Library, each of which (and the expansions of the former) are Prairie School designs. (For that in Delavan, "Claude and Starck" of Madison, WI, in 1903-1911, along with many other small libraries in Wisconsin many pictured in Kirsten Visser's 1992 "Frank Lloyd Wright and The Prairie School in Wisconsin"; for that in Lake Geneva, by James Dresser of Madison, WI)

The Prairie School has had its heroes; they included both "architects" (of structures) and landscape architects". Few of their names were known to me some two years ago, when I started to inquire into the relationships of Jens Jensen with his early private clients that I covered in the paper that I delivered to this Club in March of this year. Many of these heroes and clients, because of the good efforts of interested professional writers, have come alive for me. I like and admire them.

In his Preface to "Sticks & Stones" (1924; rev. ed., 1954), Lewis Mumford stated:

"By 1924, the work of the Chicago School [of architects], historically speaking, had dropped out of sight, completely. This means that, for the historian, the most creative period in American architecture, that between 1880 and 1900, did not, yet, exist."

I have learned that one can say the same for the Prairie School that followed it in 1900-1916. Mumford's statement had startled me, as my interest in the Prairie School, beyond Jensen's work, had begun to develop. I resolved to try to understand what were the factors causing its disappearance. At the suggestion of another Lake Geneva area history buff, I found my way to H. Allen Brooks, "Frank Lloyd Wright and His Prairie School Contemporaries" (1972, reissued in 1996)), in which he states:

"The Prairie School created some of the finest and most original architecture that America has ever known, an indigenous architecture that taught us to exalt nature's own materials, to explore new ways of relating buildings to the landscape, and to enhance our experience with living through new concepts of interior space. It was an architecture of the Midwest; yet, its significance was never so limited. . . ." (at p. ix)

For the Prairie School, the climactic years came between 1910 and 1914-1916, when quality and inventiveness reached their zenith and the greatest quantity of work was produced. . . . But the prominence [that] these men enjoyed was subsequently forgotten, in part due to [Frank Lloyd] Wright, who heaped scorn upon them and tirelessly insisted that the school had collapsed because of his departure in 1909. . . . In truth, the opposite situation prevailed: Wright's career after 1909 was eclipsed by the [Prairie School] movement, and he received comparatively few Midwest commissions, while the lion's share of new work passed to his colleagues." (at p. x)

"In spite of these achievements, the Prairie School was living on borrowed time; change was in the air. The Midwest was increasingly aware that it differed - socially, culturally - from the East, and this led to a displacement of spontaneous values by imported ones. . . . The Midwest's intuitive or 'unspoiled' . . . instincts helped foster the Prairie School; it was the repression of these values that spelled its doom. By 1916, these architects received even fewer commissions, and the remaining work was seldom for designing houses, the specialization for which they had been trained." (at p. xi)

"Why the Prairie School came to an end, and especially why the ending was so abrupt, is a question which has long baffled the historian. . . . [T]he Midwesterner increasingly rejected individuality in favor of conformity, . . . the client, rather than the architect, stipulated the change, and . . . the housewife, sooner and more readily than her husband, renounced the work of the Prairie School." (at p. 336)

"The weight of evidence, therefore, including the buildings themselves, indicates that clients more than architects, and women more than men, were receptive to the change in ideals which led to the demise of the Prairie School. . . ." (at p. 339)

"Increasingly, the orientation of the Midwesterner had been eastward. . . . Social attitudes were becoming less distinct, and the frontier concept of Chicago . . . was fast breaking down. These changes affected women more directly than men. . . . Travel, whether for pleasure or because of the war, heightened the Midwesterner's awareness of other regions and different standards of taste. This, combined with wartime nationalism and a patriotic sympathy for the mother country - England - added impetus to the prevailing revival of colonial and Tudor Gothic forms." (at p. 340)

"A misfortune [of the Prairie School movement] was its inability to win approbation from families of great wealth, which would have added commissions and prestige but, probably, would not have extended the movement's life. . . . " (at p. 344)

"Had the client, and the critic, appreciated these houses for what they sometimes were - a new experience in the act of living - the future of the Prairie School might have been quite different. But this was not to be; only the transitory characteristics were usually noticed, and these, with a change of taste, became outmoded." (at p. 24)

I set about trying to test Brooks' conclusions, based on a personal survey of the structures and landscapes of the Prairie School that I had been able to identify in and about Geneva Lake and Delavan Lake, Wisconsin.

With respect to Geneva Lake, I was blessed by the fact that there exists the useful and, seemingly, comprehensive, 1985 Architectural/Historical Study of the Geneva Lake area prepared under the auspices of The State Historical Society of Wisconsin, my perusal of which shortened greatly the research necessary for identification and verification of Prairie School designs around Geneva Lake. While no such study of the architecture or history of structures around Delavan Lake exists, Susan Visser's 1992 work on the extant structures of the Prairie School in Wisconsin, refers, with respect to Delavan Lake, only to the extant five Frank Lloyd Wright residences on its South Shore and to the extant "gardener's cottage" on its North Shore by Wright's contemporary, great promoter and, once, great friend, Robert C. Spencer, Jr., whom I will discuss in more detail hereinafter.

WRIGHT ON THE LAKES

With respect to Wright himself, I identified, in addition to his several Delavan Lake residences, the 1912 hotel in the Town of Lake Geneva (demolished in 1969) and the lovely (but demolished in 1915) little original 1902 Delavan Lake Yacht Club on its South Shore, not far from those five residences. I know of no other structure claimed to be a Wright design on Delavan Lake other than parts of its Delavan Lake Country Club clubhouse, which clubhouse I believe to have been a Spencer , not a Wright design. While I have seen references to two extant residences on Geneva Lake having been designed by Wright, I have concluded that neither is a Wright design; both are discussed in more detail hereinafter. I know of no extant or demolished Wright design on Geneva Lake other that his 1912 hotel.

In his Preface to "Sticks & Stones", Lewis Mumford also stated:

". . . Mr. Wright's style has turned its back on the whole world of engineering: . . . Mr. Wright's designs are the very products of the prairie, in their low-lying horizontal lines, in their flat roofs, while, at the same time, they defy the neutral gray or black or red of the engineering structure by their colors and ornament." (at p. 181)

Much of this is true with respect to Wright's several Delavan Lake residences, and it is exactly true with respect to his Lake Geneva hotel. (A list of those structures reflecting owner and construction date is attached hereto.) Much has been written of the several Delavan Lake residences, all on South Lake Drive. The surprise to me was his 1902 Delavan Lake Yacht Club, of which I was unaware, until I saw a reference to it in a catalogue for a 1992 exhibit at The Milwaukee Art Museum. All of these structures were constructed on property developed by one Henry Wallis, a realtor of Oak Park, IL, who had recommended Wright to his buyers. Jones, the one of them for whom Wright designed the best and most elaborate, as well as its separate gatehouse and boathouse, appears to have been a relative of Wright; Jones' "Penwern" was renamed "Robbinswood" by Burr L. Robbins of Chicago, the next owner; its boathouse has been destroyed by fire. Its gatehouse is, now, a separately-owned residence. Adjacent to "Penwern, to the East is a well-designed residence in the Style of Frank Lloyd Wright, by Brian Spencer of The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation.

The original 1902 yacht club structure, of which there is a photograph and a drawing in the recent Centennial book of the Delavan Lake Yacht Club and in Carla Lind's "Lost Wright" (1996), was demolished in 1915; it is said that parts of it were incorporated into the clubhouse of the 1915 Delavan Lake Country Club, as it was being built. Nothing remains of the yacht club structure. The Delavan Lake Country Club, reflected in old postcards, is an exceedingly graceful design. Prof. Brooks has written me to the effect that, of all the Prairie School architects, its designer is most likely to have been Robert Spencer. By 1940, its operations impaired by The Great Depression and the coming World War II, it closed; its members were absorbed by the Lake Geneva Country Club; and its golf course was converted into a quite mediocre subdivision. What remains of the golf clubhouse, is a ghost of itself - a nondescript private residence, barely identifiable as having been the core of the substantial attractive structure that it, once, was.

With respect to the Wright-designed hotel in Lake Geneva (per Patrick J. Meehan, a Milwaukee-area architect whose principal source has been the same as mine, the Lake Geneva area local weekly newspapers) Wright was engaged in 1911 to design a hotel, to replace the former Whiting House, which had been destroyed by fire in July, 1894, after some 20 years of operation. (When I, now, read of such fires, I recall one of the local Geneva Lake historians saying to me, "John, that's how people, in those days, got rid of buildings that they no longer wanted." While a January fire would have been more suspicious than one in July, even the Geneva Lake area had been greatly affected by The Financial Panic of 1893, and bookings for 1894 may have been too sparse to warrant continuing operation of the hotel.)

In the interim between 1894 and 1911, the local Lake Geneva papers reported several attempts to assemble groups of investors for the purpose of building a new, modern hotel on the site of The Whiting House - most notably the group consisting of several of the most prominent Chicago owners of lake shore property that was to use the architectural design services of the then locally famous and fashionable Henry Lord Gay. Gay's death in 1905 probably ended that venture. No progress was made until one John J. Williams, who had, recently, developed a hotel in nearby Waukesha, WI, was attracted by two local Lake Geneva businessmen. Williams associated himself with Arthur L. Richards of Milwaukee; the latter's "Artistic Building Company" became the developer of what has, variously, been called "The Geneva", the "Lake Geneva Hotel" and "The Geneva Inn". The hotel was operational for the 1912 season.

Postcards exist that reflect Wright's "rendering" of the Lake Geneva hotel; they reflect a structure rather different that what was, actually, built; the rendering shows a several story tower of bedrooms at the East end of the structure; that tower was never built. Had it been built, the structure may have been given greater recognition than the mediocrity status that has been accorded it. The likely reason for the deletion of the tower was the reputation for significant cost underestimates and cost overruns that were typical of Wright's work for private clients.

On the other hand, since, in 1911, simultaneous with his contracting to design a hotel for the Lake Geneva site, Richards had retained Wright for the construction of houses to be sold under the name of "American Building System" which were being built as late as 1916, it is likely that, by the time of its construction, the hotel development was no longer controlled by Richards. By 1911-1912, Wright had deserted his family in Oak Park, and his mind was likely to have been on other things, such as Tokyo's Imperial Hotel. I am told by one of my Lake Geneva informants that whoever actually constructed the hotel took Wright's plans and built what they chose to build, without Wright's supervision, and Wright had to sue to collect his fee.

Whatever, in the 1920's, the Lake Geneva hotel was in its hey-day. It is said that, during the Prohibition that started in 1919 and lasted into the early 1930's, tunnels into the basements of nearby storefront buildings facilitated the movement of "booze" for consumption into the hotel and, when raids for Prohibition violations or gambling took place, the movement of customers out. While there are denials of that kind of activity in the local written histories such as the now defunct "Lake Geneva Magazine", such activities are more than plausible, as I have been told of biplane landings in the Winter on the frozen lake surface, for the purpose of picking up "booze" from the lake shore residences. (I have a copy of a photograph of one such biplane, on the lake ice, that was a Christmas card of a well-known Lake Geneva/Lake Forest family.)

The end of the Lake Geneva hotel was sad. A long-time operator-owner sold it, vacant, in 1962 but had to take it back in 1965 - selling it, again, in 1966. At that time, it is said to have existed only for its bar, no provision for which was in the 1911 plans by Wright. One Eric Johnson of Williams Bay, WI - then an architectural student - spent a Summer vacation measuring, cataloguing and sketching all of the hotel's panels, bricks and window sills - all for naught, as the structure was razed in October, 1969; the Wright-designed artifacts in and about the structure were dispersed by sale, gift and theft. Johnson, himself, is said to have referred to the structure as "exhausted". In 1972, an eye-sore condominium structure that, soon, bankrupted its general contractor, and was taken over by its bank lender, took its place. The 1996 catalogue of the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio Foundation contains an aluminum magazine rack bearing the "Frank Lloyd Wright Lake Geneva Tulip" - presumably modeled after a window design in the Lake Geneva Hotel.

In Delavan's Aram Public Library, I was directed to an extensive clipping file created by a local Frank Lloyd Wright "buff" that had been accessioned into the library's own clipping collection. Everything therein confirmed my belief that the only Prairie School designs on either Geneva Lake or Delavan Lake properly attributed to Wright are the Lake Geneva hotel, the several residences on the South Shore of Delavan Lake and the Delavan Lake Yacht Club. The oldest source document found there by me was a 1954 listing titled "Buildings by Wright in Six Middle Western States" prepared at the then Burnham Library of Architecture (now part of the Ryerson-Burnham Libraries) at The Art Institute of Chicago; it, Visser's analyses of Wright's works and the list of executed Wright designs in William Allin Storrer's "The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion" (1992) are consistent in this regard.

***

Enough on Wright; on to Jensen.

JENSEN ON THE LAKES

In the Appendices to Robert Grese's 1992 biography of Jensen, sixteen projects designed by Jensen on Geneva Lake and one by him on Delavan Lake are identified from documents in the Jensen Collections at The Morton Arboretum and at the Library of The College of Arts & Sciences at The University of Michigan. I have found no indication of a landscape design on either lake by the two other famous Prairie School landscape architects, O. C. Simonds, whose excellent landscape designs for Graceland Cemetery are in the process of renewal, the second stage of which has been installed during the current year, or Walter Burley Griffin, once a student of Wright (one of the many such whose design ideas appear to have been freely appropriated by Wright, without attribution).

The one Jensen design on Delavan Lake - Wieboldt - has been elusive to me, notwithstanding the fact that I know several Wieboldt descendants. While I have not, yet, located a photograph or drawing of it, the following description is from a memoir by Mrs. Wieboldt, Sr., loaned to me by a family member:

"We liked Lake Delavan so much that we decided to build a Summer home there. This was during our second Summer in camp, and we moved in early in the Summer of 1908. The house had a long veranda facing the lake. There was a large living room, with a fire place, complete with benches on both sides . . . The dining table seated about fourteen people, . . . The kitchen was conveniently arranged, with a maid's room and a pleasant porch. There were three bedrooms on the first floor, ours, the girls' and a guest room. Upstairs, there was a dormitory, which could be divided by movable screens, as the occasion demanded. . . ." (emphasis supplied)

By 1920, after Mr. Wieboldt's death, this residence was sold to John G. Garibaldi, a quite successful fruit wholesaler of Chicago, who divided the property within his family, and another residence was built immediately adjacent to that built by Mr. Wieboldt. A Garibaldi descendant with whom I have spoken recalls a small ballroom atop one of them. While the reference to the benches on both sides of the fireplace brings to mind an Arts & Crafts or a Prairie School "inglenook", leading me to hope that Spencer may have been the designer of one residence or the other, the presence of a ballroom seems inconsistent with what I understand of him. In time, I hope to visit both residences, to be able to try to identify their respective architects and to assess the extent to which Jensen's landscaping may have affected their siting. To my untrained eye, nothing of Jensen's landscape design remains.

Since my delivery of my Uihlein/Jensen relationships paper, I found in the 1910 Annual Exhibition catalogue of The Chicago Architectural Club (in the archives of The Art Institute of Chicago), a good copy of a photograph titled "Water Garden at Lake Geneva by Jens Jensen". (To be reconciled is a reference in the list of actual exhibits also within that catalogue to a "Water Garden in Humboldt Park"; a old postcard that I have of a pergola in Humboldt Park reflects a pergola with a differing number of columns, and the site thereof does not appear at all consistent with the photograph.) Many photographs of excellent quality were taken at "Forest Glen" by Edwin A. Seipp, (a Yale-trained architect, one of Uihlein's sons-in-law and, by then, himself, a member of The Chicago Architectural Club). Seipp's collection of exceedingly high quality photographs and glass slides has survived, divided among two of his grandsons, my cousins, Ren Goltra of Lake Forest, IL, and Peter Goltra of Virginia; thus, a better identification by me of "Water Garden at Lake Geneva by Jens Jensen" may be feasible. With respect to the other sites of Jensen landscape projects on Geneva Lake, I have studied old maps for the locations of stream beds in which a pool of that magnitude could have been created; there seem to be none. In addition to walking through what remains of Uihlein's "Forest Glen", I have visited Grommes' "Allview", Young's "Moorings", Wacker's "Fair Lawn", Hately's "Galewood", Chalmers' "Dronley" and its adjacent Conference Point Park, and Byllesby's "Negawni" (all of the pre-1910 sites of Jensen's designs around Geneva Lake). Only the geography of Uihlein's "Forest Glen" could have accommodated the pool pictured. Only with respect to Wacker's "Fair Lawn" have the current owners (the Cooney Family) mentioned the one-time presence of pools; those are said by them to have been "small". Such a large pool, in such a private context among mature trees and shrubbery, with the small pergola to the rear, leads me to believe that the scene is not in a fully public park, but on a private land holding. On Geneva Lake, only Edward Uihlein's "Forest Glen" contains a stream of the magnitude that would permit a pool such as that photograph contains. The 1926 subdivision that followed Uihlein's 1921 death, and the damaging storm and Spring runoff water in the ensuing years has extensively damaged the upper portion of "Forest Glen"; such development and damage are plausible explanations for the present absence of any trace of such a pool or pergola.

Within a few days after my finding of that lovely photograph, one of my Goltra cousins showed me an 1897 book containing Edward Uihlein's bookplate - a volume titled "Water Gardens", with descriptions thereof therein - evidence that Uihlein, in the appropriate time period, had "water gardens" very much on his mind.

As for Young, in addition to his "Moorings", he owned vast, entirely separate, acreage on the South Shore of Geneva Lake, to the East and to the West of Linn Pier Road. While there is a possible site for such a pool in the West portion of that vast acreage, Grese's Appendices indicate that no drawing of any project by Jensen for Young exists in the two Jensen Collections. After Young's death in 1906, there was no mention in his obituary of any development of his properties on Geneva Lake other than his "Moorings". Nor is there any such mention in the local newspapers of the several years prior thereto. Because, after Young's death, his family virtually abandoned the Geneva Lake area for London, leaving the Linn Pier road acreage undeveloped for many years, there is, to me, no possibility that such a pool was therein created.

In the Spring of this year, I arranged a boat trip around the portions of Geneva Lake in which I had identified extant Prairie School structures for Leonard Eaton, the retired Professor of Architectural History of The University of Michigan a paragraph of whose 1964 biography of Jensen had been the catalyst for my inquiry into the 1900-1905 relationships between Jensen and Uihlein. Towards the end of our trip, we passed by "Allview", drawing Eaton's comment that its extant woods are a classic Jensen design. While much of Jensen's 1902 landscape design of the surroundings of the main house at "Allview" remains in good condition, only a fraction of the 1905 Schmidt and Garden design thereof remains, as its two top floors have been removed. Jensen's early landscape design for "Allview" (now owned by Mrs. Gordon Bartels) is, by far, the best remaining example of Prairie School landscape architecture on Geneva Lake. Mac Griswold's "The Golden Age of American Gardens" (1991), contains this:

". . . For his friend, Edward Uihlein, the Chicago parks commissioner who helped Jensen get many private commissions, he made a ravine garden, banked with the distinctive rock work for which he would later become renowned at Henry Ford's "Fairlane" [of 1914]. (at page 280)

The dog leg front lawn view at "Allview" is an earlier, smaller version of what Jensen designed for "Fairlane".

Notwithstanding the truncation of the Schmidt and Garden residence at "Allview", it is worth a visit, for its vista over the East End of Geneva Lake to the Town of Lake Geneva; for the path through its woods on the lake side of the residence; and for its "dog leg" "front yard" on the side of the residence away from the lake. (Mrs. Bartels, the current owner, is generous in providing ready access for visits to the exterior.)

To the South of "Allview's" "dog leg", across the access drive of the well-designed "700 Club" subdivision that, now, occupies much of the original Grommes Estate, are its outbuildings, which include a 1910 "caretaker's lodge" (now owned, appreciated and well-preserved by Mr. and Mrs. Charles Harker, Jr.); the two pages of prints of the original architectural drawings thereof that they have reflect that the largest corner room therein was to be Mr. Grommes' personal space - presumably for his out-of-season visits to his Estate. Next to the "caretaker's lodge" is the original immense concrete water tank for the water supply for household use and the watering of the Estate; its roof imploded within my memory. Next to the water tank is what was the stable, more recently used as a garage and for general storage; as it appears not to have been modified, it retains all of its original Prairie School character. Next to the stable/garage is the "gardener's cottage", from which the greenhouses have vanished; its renovations of recent years have not adversely affected its basic Prairie School design. Down the drive a bit, is what was the Estate's machine shop, since 1910, at least twice heavily modified, and retaining little Prairie School flavor, other than its simplicity of structure. Next to the once machine shop is a classic 1950's ranch-style house - a design concept that derived much from the Prairie School.

Another extant Jensen design on Geneva Lake is the rockwork installed by Alfred Caldwell, while he was a foreman for Jensen in the 1920's, on the drive side of Harley Clarke's "Clear Sky Lodge". The large log residence and several former outbuildings that have been converted to separate residences are Zook designs; the main house (now owned by Mr. and Mrs. Donald Hedberg) has a stunningly attractive large central living room. My untrained eye cannot identify any Jensen traces in the landscaping other than the rockwork.

***

The histories of the two residences on Geneva Lake that have been, inaccurately, attributed to Wright are interesting, as each is an excellent Prairie School design, in its own right.

PERKINS ON GENEVA LAKE

One is on the once so-called "Lefens Estate", near "Black Point" on Geneva Lake; the original structure on it (not at all a Prairie School design) was razed in the late 1940's, and a Prairie School style structure was erected in its place by E. O. Griffenhagen, a Chicago management consultant who had, previously, had a residence on Delavan Lake. There, he had to have been familiar with Wright's several structures (and with Wright's reputation for estimated cost overruns). I, first, asked Bill Petersen (Bill's "Black Point" being a virtual neighbor of the Lefens Estate, and his family being related) whose design he thought it was; he said, with confidence but without authority, "Perkins & Will". Shortly thereafter, I was at Bill's "Black Point" and was told by another local history buff like myself - a man who lives nearby - that, during a significant remodeling of that house several years ago, he walked through it in its gutted state; its original plans, by "Perkins & Will", were spread out on a table. I realized that Larry Perkins, still living, of that firm, could assist me; I contacted him, drawing, recently, this letter:

"Rediscovery of Mr. Griffenhagen is utterly timely and appropriate . . . in a way which would never have found itself by ordinary research. He was an honorable and brave member of the Chicago School Board who led a small group of opponents against a majority of grafting and drunken politicians who were determined to get rid of my Dad as architect for the Chicago schools, for which he was doing, I believe, a total of 40. The trumped up charges [against my Dad] were incomplete, incomprehensible and insubordinate. His real offense was that he used terra cotta alternatively with cut stone for a very substantial saving that real competition could make, especially when there were three cut stone men, including the President of the School Board, who had other motives. The trial at the time competed with that of O. J. Simpson. Dad was fired, all right, [but] he never again had to work for twice what he lost. Mr. Griffenhagen shared the honor of the well publicized defeat. All this occurred when I was ages 3, 4 and 5; so, my memory of it is limited."

Many years later (late 1940's), a Mr. Griffenhagen called on me at the office to talk about doing a house at Lake Geneva. His name was already familiar because his brother had been our structural engineer on many occasions, but I had no personal knowledge of the events above. This came out only gradually, and I can only hope that whatever we produced for him was worthy of him. Interesting, isn't it, where a defense of the Prairie School can lead. . . Bill Fyfe [is] a fine, sensitive person who had a good deal to do with the design of that house, if my memory serves me correctly. Historical characters of that period seem to be acquiring "Small World" characteristics, don't they?"

My communications with Fyfe have led to him giving me his collection (eight years') of "The Prairie School Review".

With respect to the much earlier Jensen design of the landscape for the Lefens Estate, some of its original trees remain, but these seem to be no more than the fragments of Jensen-specified work such as those that remain in Uihlein's "Forest Glen"

SPENCER ON THE LAKES

A second residence on Geneva Lake was attributed to Wright by a former owner, who removed and sold all of its windows, because "The house was too dark." What follows is its history, as I have, so far, been able to piece it together.

In the course of my study of Jensen, I had come to recognize that he had worked effectively with George Washington Maher, of Kenilworth, IL, another fine Prairie School architect (and the designer of the Kenilworth home of the original Francis Lackner). I contacted "The Keeper of the Flame of George Washington Maher", Donald Aucutt of Wausau, WI, asking what he could tell me of any Maher designs on Geneva or Delavan Lakes. Aucutt had for me only an architect's rendering of a unbuilt grandiose residence designed by Maher for Warren Furbeck of Oak Park, who, in the 1890's, had seen to the design for himself by Frank Lloyd Wright of an Oak Park residence. Furbeck had been the Personal Secretary to the famous and infamous Charles Yerkes, before Yerkes left the Chicago area for his London successes. Yerkes did not take Furbeck with him.

Because Mr. Furbeck, also, was, at the turn of the Century, subdividing what was, then, becoming known as "Buena Vista" one can find the story of his financial reverses in Albert Cotsworth's 1934 history of the "Buena Vista" subdivision, immediately to the Southwest of the site of "Deepwood". Mr. Furbeck became insolvent and was required to liquidate all of his real Wisconsin real estate holdings as a result of The Financial Panic of 1901. "Deepwood", an excellent Prairie School structure, was built in 1911-1912 by the Martin Family. The following is from the 1985 Architectural/Historical Study of the Geneva Lake area:

"In Fontana, several excellent Prairie School houses were surveyed. . . . "Deepwood" was designed by Edgar Martin circa 1911-1912. The house is the finest example of the later phase of Prairie School architecture at Geneva Lake. The wide, central facade is balanced by two projecting wings on the site high above the lake."

***

["Edgar Martin (1871-1951) designed "Deepwood", at 397 North Lakeshore Drive. The house is one of the finest examples of Prairie School architecture in the Geneva Lake survey area.] Martin was associated with Richard E. Schmidt ("Allview", Geneva Lake, 1905) and Hugh M. Garden. . . . More research needs to be done to verify the date of construction of the house. . . ."

A local Fontana, WI, amateur historian (Arthur Jensen, the real estate developer of Edward Uihlein's "Forest Glen") had this to say on "Deepwood" in his history of Fontana on Geneva Lake ("Shawneeawkee"):

". . . The house later owned by George Forbeck (a late date successor in ownership to Warren Furbeck) was built by an Edwin Martin, for himself and his mother. Martin, himself was an architect. . . ."

At first, I thought Arthur Jensen to have been wrong and the Architectural/Historical Survey authors to be right; after all, the former was only an amateur historian, and the latter were professionals. I am convinced that Arthur Jensen (the amateur) was the closest to being accurate. I have Mrs. Manly - "Luigi" Mumford and Mary Woolever, both of The Ryerson-Burnham Libraries of The Art Institute of Chicago, to thank for making it clear to me that there were two Chicago contemporaneous architects named E. D. Martin, not only one. I have concluded that the actual designer was not Edgar Martin, long in partnership with Schmidt and Garden (as Schmidt, Garden & Martin), but the senior partner of a contemporary Chicago architect, Edwin Daniel Martin, sometimes in partnership with Robert Spencer and Horace Powers (as Spencer, Powers & Martin): Robert D. Spencer, Jr. I have been informed by Paul Kruty of The Department of Architecture of The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign that Emma Martin of "Deepwood" was the same Emma Martin (Mrs. Charles Martin) of Oak Park, the purchaser of the Wright-designed Fricke residence there and that she arranged for Wright to remodel that house and design a garage for it. She had two sons, Charles and Edwin Daniel Martin, the E. D. Martin who became a partner, for a few years, of Spencer and Powers - long enough to bring in both the design of "Deepwood" and the design of the second Lake Geneva Country Club clubhouse to Spencer. Not only must more research be done by me (or others), to verify the date of the original construction of this nice house (believed to be 1911-1912), but also, to identify further the extent of Edwin Daniel Martin's actual involvement in this project. The real estate title records are said to reflect that the owner was Emma Martin, whose husband had died, leaving her quite well-off. Now, this residence and its virtually unmodified "guest house" are owned by Mr. and Mrs. Jeff Neal of the Chicago area.

On Delavan Lake, there is a lovely Prairie School design by Robert Spencer: the "Gardener's Cottage" constructed on "The Stevens Estate" at 3006 North Lake Drive across Delavan Lake from the Wright residences and the original Delavan Lake Yacht Club. Recently, I paid a visit on the current owners, the widow of a descendant of the Charles A. Stevens Family of Chicago and her daughter, a Delavan area school teacher; they shared with me several old photographs that are consistent with the others that I had seen in the Aram Public Library in Delavan and in the collection of a local historian (Gordon Yadon). This structure is a special relic of the Prairie School that the Stevens Family came to appreciate about two years ago, when two men who were restoring a Spencer-designed residence in Oak Park or River Forest dropped in, looked over the structure carefully and asked for any artifacts that could come out of any renovation of it. (See, also, Russell Hovde's paper, for his relation of his own 1970's visit to them and Don Wroblewski's recollections of a visit by a tour led by Professor Paul E. Sprague of The University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee; Paul Kruty of The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign tells me that the visitor may have been James D. Johnson, American Slide Chart Corporation, Wheaton, IL, who locates Spencer-designs for Kruty.) Mrs. Stevens told me that her father-in-law had been a self-made man and that the 1901 construction of the "Gardener's Cottage" was well after his original purchase of his property and was intended to serve his own, different needs. The "cottage" is, presently, occupied by a young family that performs a caretaker role for the entire property; the two women live in the "main house" - a steel Art Deco design from the 1933 Chicago World's Fair that was built by Mr. Stevens, Jr., after the original main house (not a Prairie School design) was demolished after the death of his parents. Both the Art Deco house and the "Gardener's Cottage" have, for many years, been included in "house walks" for Delavan area charities. The Prairie School structure, itself, is substantially unchanged from the time it was built, except for the demolition of the large attached greenhouse and the removal of a large windmill from the tower.

Per Paul Kruty, the Tony Pratt residence at 824 Racine Street within Delavan, WI, was designed by Robert C. Spencer, Jr.

Within the town of Lake Geneva is its Horticultural Hall, originally controlled by the Lake Geneva Garden Club, the Lake Geneva Gardeners' & Foremen's Association and The Lake Geneva Fresh Air Association (known as "Holiday Home'). Per Paul Kruty, its design was , t the instance of Mrs. Charles L. Hutchinson, by Robert C. Spencer, Jr.

Spencer's name is, today, best known among students of the Prairie School for his 1900 promotion in articles in "The Architectural Record" of the design skills of Wright. He is mentioned in "The AIA Guide to Chicago" twice: once for his participation in the design of the Oak Park/River Forest High School, and once for his participation in the design of the interior of what is, now, The Chicago Cultural Center, for which he designed the mosaics, which were executed by a Tiffany-trained craftsman. Spencer, who may have been instructed [1888-1890] at MIT by Dwight Heald Perkins [1885-1888], was born in 1864, came to Chicago in the mid 1890's, enjoyed playing golf, was married in 1899, was a member of The Chicago Architectural Club and The Cliff Dwellers. He appears to have been socially well-connected in Chicago. After designing Chicago-area structures, principally in Oak Park and River Forest, he moved from Chicago to Oklahoma in the late 1920's to teach architecture and, then, to Florida, where he, also, became a noted muralist and marine painter; he died in Arizona in 1953 at age 91. While entries provided by him appear in the earliest editions of Marquis, "Who's Whos" of Chicago, to me, the most illuminating is in the "National Cyclopedia of American Biography" (published by James T. White & Company), from which the following is an extract:

". . . Spencer designed most of the frescoes and marble decorations in the Chicago Public Library. While practicing in Chicago he designed the Oak Park and River Forest township high schools [sic] and a number of apartment houses and country clubs, but he was particularly well known for his designs for country homes, including those for Charles L. Hutchinson and Harlow N. Higinbotham. . . ."

Hutchinson and Higinbotham were among the most civically active men of their day. According to Phillip Pecord's unpublished list of Prairie School structures, nationwide, Higinbotham had a "Forester's Cottage" designed for him by Spencer in 1904, for his Joliet, IL, second home. While this site is beyond the original scope of this paper, I have considered it, because the Higinbothams and the Hutchinsons are said to have good friends and frequent traveling companions. I have, reliably, been told that Mrs. Higinbotham did not care for the substantial 1893 Daniel Burnham-designed structure ,with a large adjacent conservatory, constructed to the East of Joliet, at the behest of her husband, and she had a second home, designed by Robert C. Spencer, Jr., constructed, abandoning its predecessor. That second home is extant at 1300 East Cass Street, in Pilcher Park, Joliet, on the way towards Higinbotham Woods. It is said by Barbara Newberg of the City of Joliet that the conservatory that was adjacent to the Burnham-designed first home is extant and is known as Bird Haven Green House, within the park system of the City of Joliet.

According to the 1911 edition of Marquis, Hutchinson was a director and Chairman of the Fine Arts Committee of The World's Columbian Exposition. President of The Art Institute of Chicago for more than 25 years, Treasurer of The University of Chicago and Treasurer of The Auditorium Association. He was the successor to Edward Uihlein, as President of The Chicago Horticultural Society who arranged for the caretaking by The Art Institute of Chicago of The Horticultural Society's records, after the coming of The First World War led to The Horticultural Society's suspension of operations, until its resurrection in the late 1940's. Hutchinson's country home was the famed "Wychwood", a 1902 English cottage-style house on the fashionable North Shore of Geneva Lake. The fame of "Wychwood" is for its flower and wild life sanctuary; in the construction of the residence, the contractor was required to disturb as few trees as possible. In "Country Life" of April, 1910, in the first of a series on successful American gardens, Wilhelm Miller wrote:

"If you like a finished landscape composition by the Olmsteds, you will find it here . . . But the remarkable feature of this landscape is that it is behind the house, rather than in front, as instance of the bold and successful way in which the Hutchinsons have freed themselves from convention. For it seemed best to plant this house near the lake . . . and let it grow out of its wooded environment. . . . And, because wood was plentiful, they chose the English cottage style for their house. As a result, the house fits. . . ."

"Passing to the rear of the house, we emerge upon the perfect lawn and finished landscape view . . . Standing on the lawn, you may look back and see the lake through the house, for there is a delightful room of large extent which is enclosed by glass, and, when the doors are open, there is an unbroken view from lawn to lake. . . ."

In her 1928 book on "Wychwood", Mrs. Hutchinson described her and Mr. Hutchinson's efforts "to make a new house look like an old one":

". . . We did want to bring the outside inside; we wanted the house to be part and parcel of the woods, to sink into the hillside and take a proper proportion in the landscape."

Mrs. Hutchinson refers to the architect as "Friendly Architect". Nether he nor any other person (including her husband) is referred to by her by name. None of the writing of history of Geneva Lake that I have seen identifies the architect for "Wychwood". Paul Kruty of The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign has advised me that the widely (at the time)-published architect for this structure was Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge of Boston (for whom Spencer had worked, most notably on the mosaics for The Chicago Public Library). I speculate that, notwithstanding prior termination of his employment by the Shepley Firm, Spencer was the Project Architect who obtained the confidence of Mrs. Hutchinson , so that he was asked to design and supervise the construction of the "gate-lodge" at "Wychwood", which Kruty, clearly attributes to Spencer, as well as the demolished wood-shed and, perhaps, other outbuildings of "Wychwood", just as Hugh Garden did Prairie School style outbuildings of "Allview" for Richard Schmidt.

"Wychwood" was given in 1932, in trust for 25 years, by Mrs. Hutchinson, after the 1924 death of Mr. Hutchinson, to The University of Chicago, for its use in the study of wild flowers and other wild life and in the development of new strains of plants. Per Wolfmeyer/Gage's "Lake Geneva - Newport of the West" (1976), Mrs. Hutchinson retained use of the house and a few surrounding acres until her death, at which time this parcel, too, became the property of The University. In 1957, when the trust term ended, The University sold the entire Hutchinson Estate to an individual, who, as had been done to Grommes' "Allview" about ten years before, removed all the upper floors and converted the residence into a one story structure - one that contains only traces of the original Spencer design.

The biographical entry for Spencer in the "Cyclopedia" goes on to provide:

". . . In 1900, Spencer contributed to the "Ladies Home Journal" a series of articles on farmhouses, one of the first important contributions to a popular periodical on the subject of domestic architecture. . . ."

Since there is no mention of Spencer's 1900 writing published by "The Architectural Record, one can infer that, by the time of the post-1953 writing of his "Cyclopedia" entry, there had been such a breach between Spencer and Wright that Spencer's Family chose not to mention the once-close relationship between the two men.

During my lake trip with Leonard Eaton to which I have referred, hereinabove, I had planned to cross the lake at the Lake Geneva Country Club and look at Hutchinson's "Wychwood" (then, not identified by me to Spencer) and Howard Van Doren Shaw's "House in the Woods" (1905) - not at all a Prairie School structure - but certain to be interesting to Eaton, because of his "Two Chicago Architects" (a study of how Wright and Shaw - who were contemporaries - obtained their clients for residential designs). Eaton said, about the Clubhouse structure, "That's pretty good Prairie School architecture, especially if you strip off the porch built over the lake." As I had been a member of that club since 1963 and much involved in the writing of its 1995 Centennial Book, I asked myself, "While I know that our clubhouse is a Prairie School design, why don't I know who was the architect?"

I went back to the Club's first available corporate minute book (that of 1916 and the following years - its predecessor, probably, having been destroyed by the 1916 fire that required its total rebuilding in 1917). While the name of the general contractor (Reinert & Maltsch of Lake Geneva) was disclosed in the course of the construction, no name of any architect was mentioned in that time frame. I read on, and I found in the minutes of a meeting several years later, a discussion of some construction changes in prospect and a formal referral of the design thereof to "the Club's architect", "E. D. Martin" of "Spencer, Powers & Martin". I recognized the "Spencer & Powers" portion of that name. A call to Mary Woolever of The Art Institute of Chicago brought me copies of pages from the catalogue of the 1917 annual exhibit of The Chicago Architectural Club at The Art Institute of Chicago that listed a couple of apartment building projects under the firm name of "Spencer, Powers & Martin" and, immediately above them, under the firm name of only "Spencer & Powers", several studies "for a country club" including one titled "Country Club in Lake Geneva"; while no rendering or drawing appeared therein, I am confident that this exhibition entry was an architectural rendering the Lake Geneva Country Club.

Professor Paul Kruty of The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign provided the following:

"The Lake Geneva Golf Club was, indeed, by Spencer. It was designed in 1915, as you say, and was built by [Reinert & Maltsch] of Lake Geneva, according to a trade journal of the time. I visited it a couple of years ago and was given the name of Brent R. Starck to contact about further information, . . . but this item sits on my Spencer "to do" pile. Would it be possible to get copies of the club minutes you refer to? Spencer was an avid golfer and did a number of such clubhouses. (I visited the Sedalia one just after the tornado wiped it away.) I don't think that you need to attribute the building entirely to Edwin Martin, although you may be right that he helped the office secure the commission. The basic form, as well as the ceiling decoration are very much in Spencer's manner. Note that there are "Bulldog Adjusters" [of Spencer's Casement Window Company] on the windows."

In Brooks' "Prairie School Architecture: Studies from "The Western Architect" (1975) (at page 195), there is a copy of the April, 1914, issue of that long defunct publication, that featured Spencer & Powers. Therein is a little architectural rendering titled "Country Club, Sedalia, MO (1909)" that is eerily like the architectural rendering for the 1916/1917 reconstruction of the Lake Geneva Country Club. There is no text discussion thereof. That that rendering appeared in 1914 is noteworthy. Sedalia, MO, is in central Missouri, less than 100 miles East of Kansas City, MO. I called the Manager of that country club, who told me that that old clubhouse had been demolished by a tornado many years ago and that, as the club had, then, moved to another site, none of that club's present members recall the former clubhouse.

I recalled the name of "E. D. Martin" as a member of the Lake Geneva Country Club who had proposed a new potential member in 1916; thus, in 1916, at the time of selection of an architect for a reconstruction of the Lake Geneva Country Club's Clubhouse, an "E. D. Martin" was a member of that Club. By 1912, Charles L. Hutchinson, his "Wychwood" having been completed, was a member of the Lake Geneva Country Club. Knowing how private clubs operate, I speculate that the then Governors of the Club - all names well-known in Chicago business circles - concluded: "Let's use our member, Martin; let's ask Martin to associate himself with Spencer." Spencer had, just, designed the Sedalia Country Club and, I believe, was, then, designing the Delavan Lake Country Club. In 1916-1917, as the coming war was threatening, the Lake Geneva Country Club's Governors needed an immediate reconstruction; the Prairie Style in which Spencer was expert fit their needs; they got it.

Professor Kruty, also, provided to me:

". . . Almost four years ago, I talked to Martin's nephew, who told me much about his uncle. I have in my notes the following: "Edwin Martin's first house was the family summer house on Lake Geneva,. a bungalow built before 1915." Bingo. I am surprised and pleased that you have found it. . . ."

AYARS AND OTHERS ON THE "WEST END" OF GENEVA LAKE

On the so-called "West End" of Geneva Lake, both to the "North" and the "South" of Edward Uihlein's "Forest Glen", there are several residences constructed in 1900-1910, after the earlier development of the "East End" of Geneva Lake. No Prairie School residences are on the North Shore of the "East End". There are several on the "North Shore" of the "West End". Some are commented upon in the 1985 Architectural/Historical Survey, for instance:

"The Embree House at 372 North Lake Shore Drive, designed in 1902 by Charles Ayars, depicts an earlier stucco version of the [Prairie School] style, with its sheltering multi-gabled roof with wide eaves. . . ."

The Embree house was owned for many years by another amateur historian like myself, Russell Hovde, and his wife. In the 1970's, Mr. Hovde invested a remarkable amount of effort into identifying its architect to be Mr. Ayars, in time to have his conclusions included in the 1985 Architectural/Historical Survey. (An extract from Mr. Hovde's personal history of his inquiries into the history of the Embree House and its owners is attached.)

On the same stretch of North Lake Shore Drive (which is, still, referred to as "Uihlein Road"), is a residence with Prairie School features built (circa 1906) by Sanford N. Vaughan (of Vaughan & Bushnell, the hammer manufacturer) It is occupied by the family one of his great granddaughters, Mrs. George Atkinson, whose occupancy follows that of her parents, the Howard Vaughans of Winnetka. The senior Vaughan was a self-made man who is said by his great granddaughter to have, himself, drawn the plans for his Lake Geneva home. She is trying to find a set, in which there may be evidence of his use of a Prairie School architect. Vaughan, for his primary residence at 530 Linden Avenue in Oak Park, IL, used a 1912 design by Eben Ezra Roberts of Oak Park; I don't have any more basis for speculating that it was a Roberts design. The Vaughan Family has not been able to locate any documentation of the design or construction of this, now greatly modified, residence.

Also in that stretch is the English Cottage style residence constructed in 1905-1906 on the order of Federal Judge C. C. Kohlsaat of Chicago; now, it is occupied by my generation of his descendants, children of the Edward Harkness Family of Winnetka. Kohlsaat, who had preceded Uihlein as a Commissioner of Chicago's West Park System, was a mentor of Uihlein in Uihlein's activities in that role. Kohlsaat was such a good neighbor of Uihlein that Kohlsaat appears to have suggested in 1906 to Uihlein that Uihlein purchase out of a bankruptcy sale pending before Kohlsaat the substantial acreage on the flat above and to the North of Uihlein's "Forest Glen". In contrast to the Vaughan house, the Kohlsaat/Harkness house is hardly changed from the time of its construction; it has an excellent Prairie School interior, with classic interior dark trim. Arthur Jensen's "Shawneeawkee" gives its design credit to one "Charlos Andre'", a "French architect/builder". The 1985 Architectural/Historical Survey describes one "Charles Andrae" as no more than a local builder. In this instance, from other references to Andrae in the local newspapers that I have seen, I opt for the 1985 Architectural/Historical Survey's version. (I suspect that, because Andrae to have been a golfing companion of Jensen at the Big Foot Country Club in Fontana, Jensen elected to puff Andrae up into something more interesting.)

While there are many more houses into which one could (and I intend to) inquire, I believe that what I have covered provides enough sense of the Geneva and Delavan Lakes area, for one to be able to assess the validity of Brooks' theses.

CONCLUSION

A few days ago, I was at the Frank Lloyd Wright Home & Studio Foundation in Oak Park for a meeting and took the occasion to look over the many books displayed at its Gingko Tree Bookshop, on the chance that there had been a new release relevant to this paper. There was: the April, 1996, reprinting of Prof. Brooks' 1972 book from which I quoted so extensively in the earliest portion of this paper. His Preface to this reprinting states that this is its tenth printing in its 25 years in print; he closes his Preface with:

"Most rewarding for me is that, since the book's first publication, the documentation that has become available has confirmed my analysis and conclusions. Therefore, I leave the text unchanged."

Based upon the microcosm of my own review of the work of the Prairie School, both structural and landscape, on Geneva and Delavan Lakes, I agree with Professor Brooks' determination that he leave his text unchanged; I confirm his analysis and conclusions.

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF JENSEN'S GENEVA/DELAVAN LAKES PROJECTS

Uihlein, Edward G. 1901 1, 2 "Forest Glen"
Wacker, Charles H. undated 1 "Fair Lawn" (prop. purchased 1893)
Young, Otto 1901-1906 N/A "Moorings" or "Younglands"
(not executed)
Grommes, J. B. 1903-1906 1, 2 "Allview"
Hately, J. C. 1904 1, 2 "Galewood"
Chalmers, W. J. 1904-1905 1, 2 "Dronley"
Wieboldt, W. A. 1908 1, 2 On Delavan Lake
Byllesby, H. M. 1909 1, 2 "Negawni"
Hately, J. C. 1910 1, 2 "Galewood"
Lefens, T. J. 1911 1, 2 Lefens Estate (no name)
(now occupied by a 1940's Perkins & Will design)
Potter, Charles F. & Edwin A.1912 1, 2 subdivided "Alta Vista" (?)
Swift, Edward 1916 1, 2 "Villa Hortensia"
Chalmers Estate 1918 2 Conference Point Park
Clarke, Harley K. 1922 2 "Clear Sky Lodge", a Zook design
Myers, Lewis Edward 1924 2 "Alleghany"
Fauntleroy, Thomas J. 1925 2 (site not yet identified)
McCarty 1931 1 (East End site not yet identified)

NOTE: The identification by me of the pre-1921 designs was substantially aided by Wolfmeyer/Gage, "LAKE GENEVA - NEWPORT OF THE WEST (1870-1920)" (1976), the proceeds of the sale of which go to the Lake Geneva Historical Society, Inc.

***

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF WRIGHT'S GENEVA/DELAVAN LAKES PROJECTS

Henry Wallis/Peter Goodsmith1900
Delavan Lake Yacht Club1902
Fred B. Jones' "Penwern"1902
George W. Spencer1902
Charles L. Ross1902
Andrew B. Johnson1905

CHRONOLOGICAL LIST OF SPENCER'S GENEVA/DELAVAN LAKES PROJECTS

Charles A. Stevens1901-1902
Charles L. Hutchinson1902-1903
Sedalia (MO) Country Club1909
Martin Family's "Deepwood"1910-1911 (?)
Delavan Lake Country Club(1915) (?)
Lake Geneva Country Club(1915-1916

EXCERPT FROM MARQUIS' "WHO'S WHO IN CHICAGO AND VICINITY" (1936)

GRIFFENHAGEN, Edwin Oscar, management engineer and political scientist; born in Chicago, IL, on January 14, 1986; son of Oscar Fred and Anna Maria (Kleinhans) Griffenhagen; B.S. in Civil Engineering from the Armour Institute of Technology in 1906; licensed as a Civil Engineer in 1909; married Christine A. Gloekler of Chicago, IL, on January 7, 1909; children: Ruth Christine, Elinor Jane. Mining engineering in Alaska in 1906; office engineer for the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul & Pacific Railway Company, 1907-1909; architectural engineer of The City of Chicago in 1909; organized technical work of the City of Chicago Civil Service Commission in 1910; head of the Engineering Department of Arthur Young & Company of Chicago and New York City for 1911-1919, reorganizing numerous corporations, utilities and banks; also, states and cities; with colleagues, took over the business of the Department and has since practiced as Griffenhagen & Associates, management engineers and consultants in public administration, of which he is Senior Partner. Reorganized Canadian Government departments in 1918-1921; Chief Counselor to the U.S. Commission on the Reclassification of Salaries in 1920; consultant to numerous states and large cities, etc. Member of The Institute of Management (ex-President), charter member of the Association of Consulting Management Engineers, the Society of Industrial Engineers, the Taylor Society, the American Management Association, the American Association of Engineers, the American Economic Association, the American Political Science Association, the American Academy of Political and Social Science, the National Economics League, the National Tax Association, the National Municipal League, the Government Research Association, the Civil Service Assembly, the Chicago Civil Service Association (Vice-President), the National Civil Service Reform League, the Chicago Association of Commerce, the Illinois Manufacturers' Association, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, The Art Institute of Chicago, Tau Beta Pi. Protestant. Clubs: University, City, Chicago Athletic Association, Edgewater Golf, Delavan Country, Lake Shore Athletic, Rotary; Engineers' (NY). Home: 56 East Elm Street, Chicago, IL; country: Delavan, WI. Office: 321 North LaSalle Street, Chicago, IL.

On the East wall of St. Paul's United Church of Christ (formerly St. Paul's Reformed and Evangelical Lutheran Church, on Fullerton Parkway in Chicago is a 1959 recognition of a memorial gift relating to the reconstruction of that church (which had been destroyed in a 1955 fire, from the "daughters" of a Mr. and Mrs. Gloekler: Christine Griffenhagen, Edna Ashley and Meta Griffenhagen. Clearly, the Mr. of this parish, of which the Edward Uihlein Family and the John Kranz Family were also members, were the parents-in-law of Mr. Griffenhagen, and one of his brothers had married a sister of his wife. (Florence Kranz, the eldest daughter of John Kranz had been quite generous to that church, at least with a substantial bequest under her Will.)

Excerpt from Marquis' "Who's Who in Chicago" (1926 ed.)

JENSEN, Jens, landscape architect; born Dybbol, Denmark, September 13, 1860; son of Christian and Magdalen Sofia (Petersen) Jensen; educated at the Agricultural College, Jutland, and Tune, near Copenhagen; further studies in Berlin and Hanover, Germany; married Anne M. Hansen, of Denmark, 1884; children: Edward C., Magdalen S., Katherine (Mrs. Edison L. Wheeler), Edith D. (Mrs. Marshall L. Johnson. Came to U.S. 1884; superintendent of Union and other small city parks of West Park System, Chicago, 1890-1894; superintendent of Humboldt Park, 1894-1900; member of the Special Park Commission of Chicago, 1902-1913; landscape architect and general superintendent of West Park System, 1906-1909; consulting landscape architect, West Park System, 1909-1920. Member of Art Commission of Chicago, The Friends of Our Native Landscape (President); Governing Member of Art Institute of Chicago (life); Fellow, American Association for the Advancement of Science sand of American Geological Society. Club: Cliff Dwellers. Recreation: nature studies. Home: 1121 Elmwood Avenue, Wilmette, IL. Studio: "The Clearing", Ellison Bay, WI.

Excerpt from Marquis' "Who's Who in Chicago and Vicinity" (1936 ed.)

JENSEN, Jens, landscape architect; born Denmark, September 13, 1860; son of Christian and Magdalen Sofia (Petersen) Jensen; educated at the Agricultural College, Jutland, Denmark; further studies in agriculture and horticulture at Copenhagen and later studied at Berlin and Hanover, Germany; married Anne M. Hansen, of Denmark, 1884. Came to U.S. 1884; superintendent of Union and other small city parks of West Park System, Chicago, 1890-1894; superintendent of Humboldt Park, 1894-1900; landscape architect and general superintendent of West Park System, 1906-1909; consulting landscape architect of same, 1909-1920. President of Friends of Our Native Landscape; governing member of Art Institute of Chicago (life). Fellow, American Geological Society, American Association for the Advancement of Science; member, Illinois Academy of Science, Chicago Academy of Science. Club: Cliff Dwellers. Home: 1121 Elmwood Avenue, Wilmette, IL. Studio: Ellison Bay, WI.

EXCERPT FROM Marquis' "Who's Who in Chicago and Vicinity" (1926)

MARTIN, Edgar, architect; born in Burlington, IA, on February 26, 1871; son of Daniel & Marcelia Jane (Black) Martin; educated in the public schools of Chicago; studied abroad, principally at Paris, specializing in mathematics; attended lectures at Ecole des Beaux Arts and Conservatoire des Beaux Arts et Métiers for two years; pupil of Courtois & Colin at the Academie Colarossi; married to Berthe Eugenie Parcot of Chicago on October 21, 1909. Practiced in Chicago since 1890; was a member of the firm of Richard E. Schmidt, Garden & Martin; now a member of Pond & Pond, Martin & Lloyd. State Architect of Illinois under Governor Frank O. Lowden; Special Examiner for the Chicago Civil Service Commission; served on the committee of engineers that drafted the structural section of the Chicago Building Code; made Supervisory Architect of the Chicago Board of Education in 1924. Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Architects, Western Society of Engineers. Home: Chicago Beach Hotel. Office: 6 North Michigan Avenue.

EXCERPT FROM Marquis' "Who's Who in Chicago and Vicinity" (1936)

MARTIN, Edgar, architect; born in Burlington, IA, on February 26, 1871; son of Daniel & Marcelia Jane (Black) Martin; educated in the public schools of Chicago; special work with private instructors and lectures at Ecole des Beaux Arts and Conservatoire des Beaux Arts et Métiers for two years; pupil of Courtois, Prinet & Colin at the Academie Colarossi, Paris; married to Berthe Eugenie Parcot of Chicago, IL, on October 21, 1909. Began practice in Chicago since 1890; was a member of the firm of Schmidt, Garden & Martin in 1906-1924; Pond & Pond, Martin & Lloyd, 1925-1931, Pond & Pond and Edgar Martin since 1931. Was State Architect of Illinois, 1917-1924; Supervisory Architect in charge of the building program of the Chicago Board of Education, 1924-1925. Architect of Centennial Memorial Building, Springfield, IL; Clinical Hospital of the University of Illinois at Chicago. Member of the American Society of Civil Engineers, American Institute of Architects. Clubs: Arts, Chicago Athletic. Home: 76 East Walton Place. Office: 180 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago.

There is no mention of an association by Martin with Spencer & Powers in 1916-1917. The connection with Lowden adds another connection to the Lake Geneva area, as a Lowden daughter married a Madlener and, thereby, had connections into the German-American community there.

EXCERPT FROM APPENDICES OF GRESE'S 1992 BIOGRAPHY OF JENSEN

Perkins, Dwight Heald (1867-1941). Chicago architect, born in Memphis, TN. In 1887, Perkins graduated from MIT with a degree in architecture. Moving to Chicago after graduation, he worked in various Chicago architectural offices - most notably that of Burnham & Root from 1888-1894 - and, thereafter, on his own. He was a partner in the firm of Perkins, Fellows & Hamilton from 1911-1927; and Perkins, Chatten & Hammond from 1927-1935. From 1905-1910, Perkins was Chief Architect for The Chicago Board of Education. He served on numerous park boards with Jensen and was President of The Chicago Regional Planning Association, which fought to pass the enabling legislation to establish Forest Preserves in Illinois.

EXCERPT FROM MARQUIS' "THE BOOK OF CHICAGOANS" (1911)

PERKINS, Dwight Heald, architect; born Memphis, TN, March 26, 1867; son of Marland Leslie and Marion (Heald) Perkins; educated in the Chicago public schools; took a two-year partial course in architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1885-1887; instructor in architecture at the same , 1887-1888; married in Hopkinton, MA, on August 18, 1891, to Lucy Fitch; two children: Eleanor Ellis and Lawrence Lincoln. In the practice of architecture in Chicago since January 1, 1894; Architect, Chicago Board of Education, 1905-1910. Member of The Municipal Art Commission; member of the Special Park Commission, 1899-1909. Fellow of The American Institute of Architects; member of The Chicago Architectural Club. Clubs: Union League, City. Residence: 2319 Lincoln Street, Evanston, IL. Office: 1100, 6 North Clark Street.

EXCERPT FROM MARQUIS' "WHO'S WHO IN CHICAGO AND VICINITY" (1936)

PERKINS, Dwight Heald, architect; born Memphis, TN, March 26, 1867; son of Marland Leslie and Marion (Heald) Perkins; educated in the Chicago public schools; student at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1885-1887; married Lucy A. Fitch of Hopkinton, MA, on August 18, 1891; children: Eleanor Ellis and Lawrence Lincoln. Instructor in architecture at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 1887-1888; practice in Chicago since 1894; Architect for Chicago Board of Education, 1905-1910; Chairman, Subcommittee on Playgrounds of the Special Park Commission, 1899-1909; Plan Commission of Cook County Forest Preserve, 1916-1922; President of the Northwest Park District of Evanston, 1911-1916; Honorary President of The Regional Planning Association of Chicago. Fellow of The American Institute of Architects; member of The Art Institute of Chicago. Clubs: Cliff Dwellers, Architectural, Prairie. Residence: 2319 Lincoln Street, Evanston, IL.

EXCERPT FROM MARQUIS' "THE BOOK OF CHICAGOANS " (1911)

SPENCER, Robert Closson, Jr., architect; born in Milwaukee, WI, on April 13, 1864; son of Robert and Ellen (Whiton) Spencer; educated in the public and high schools of Milwaukee; graduated in mechanical engineering from The University of Wisconsin; 8th holder of the Rotch traveling scholarship in architecture (of Boston) in 1891-1893; married in Bath, MN, in 1889 to Ernestine Elliott; children: Marian L., Ernestine M., Charles E. Identified with architectural work in Boston until 1895, when he came to Chicago; member of the firm of Spencer & Powers since November, 1905. Member of the American Institute of Architects, Sigma Chi. Independent in politics. Clubs: City, University, Cliff Dwellers. Recreations: tennis and hunting. Residence: 423 Park Avenue, River Forest, IL. Office: Steinway Hall.

In the 1905 edition, his home address was 340 Keystone in River Forest. The 1926 edition of Marquis provides:

SPENCER, Robert Closson, architect; born in Milwaukee, WI, on April 13, 1864; son of Robert C. and Ellen W. (Whiton) Spencer; educated in the grammar and high schools of Milwaukee; B.M.E. from The University of Wisconsin in 1886; 8th holder of the Rotch traveling scholarship in architecture (of Boston) in 1891-1893; married in Bath, MN, on November 28, 1889 to Ernestine Elliott; children: Marian L. (Mrs. John W. Smith), Ernestine M., Charles E. Entered architectural work in Boston; came to Chicago in 1893; member of the firm of Spencer & Powers from November, 1905, to January 1, 1923; in practice alone since 1923; designer of Oak Park High School.. Fellow of the American Institute of Architects; member of Sigma Chi. Club: University. Recreations: tennis and hunting. Home: Oak Park, , IL. Office: 5 North LaSalle Street, Chicago.

EXCERPT FROM Appendices to Grese's 1992 biography of Jens Jensen:

Spencer, Robert C. (1865-1953). Born in Milwaukee, WI, Spencer graduated from The University of Wisconsin in 1886 and soon thereafter began his studies in architecture at MIT. In 1893, he went to work for Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge, first in Boston and then in Chicago. In 1895, Spencer began his own practice and in 1905 he joined with Horace S. Powers to form Spencer & Powers. Spencer was a member of the original Steinway Hall group of prairie architects, one of whom, Dwight Perkins, had been his classmate at MIT. Spencer's work included several collaborations with Jensen, including the Magnus house in Winnetka, IL.

As Perkins years at MIT were 1883-1888, it appears that Perkins may have been an instructor of Spencer, not a classmate.

***

Excerpt from the National Cyclopedia of American Biography (1958 volume)

SPENCER, Robert Closson, Jr., architect, was born in Milwaukee, WI, on April 13, 1864, the son of Robert Closson and Ellen (Whiton) King Spencer and grandson of Platt Rogers and Persis (Duty) Spencer. His father was an educator. Robert C. Spencer, Jr., was graduated B.M.E, (Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering) in 1886 at The University of Wisconsin and studied architecture at The Massachusetts Institute of Technology during 1888-1890. The following year, he was awarded the Rotch traveling scholarship, on which he studied two years in Europe. Meanwhile, he began his career in the office of Wheelright & Haven, Boston architects, and, later, was associated with the Boston firm of Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. On returning from Europe, he was sent to Chicago by the latter firm in connection with the construction of The Chicago Public Library. Two years later, he began independent practice in Chicago. In 1905, he formed a partnership in that city with Horace S. Powers, as the firm of Spencer & Powers, in which he continued until 1923. He, again, practiced independently from that year until 1928, when he became Associate Professor at Oklahoma Architectural & Mechanical College. From 1930-1934, he taught at The University of Florida School of Architecture and Allied Arts, and, for the next three years, until his retirement, he was occupied in painting murals of eight Florida colonial houses for the Federal Government and The University of Florida. Spencer designed most of the frescoes and marble decorations in the Chicago Public Library. While practicing in Chicago, he designed the Oak Park and River Forest Township High Schools [sic] and a number of apartment houses and country clubs, but he was particularly well known for his designs for country homes, including those for Charles L. Hutchinson and Harlow N. Higinbotham. He was the inventor of a number of window opening devices, among which was the Win-Dor casement window adjuster, patented about 1906, and distributed under the names of Bull-Dog and Hold Fast. For the manufacture of these devices, he founded the Casement Hardware Co., Chicago, in 1906 and, as a subsidiary interest, was its President thereafter. In 1900, Spencer contributed to the "Ladies Home Journal" a series of articles on farmhouses, one of the first important contributions to a popular periodical on the subject of domestic architecture. In the 1930's, he contributed articles on Florida architecture to "American Guide". He was, also, known for his work in water colors, particularly his marine paintings. He was a Fellow of The American Institute of Architects and a member of Sigma Chi and The Cliff Dwellers, University and City Clubs of Chicago. Politically, he was an independent. Tennis, golf and baseball were his favorite recreations. Spencer was married in Bath, ME, on November 28, 1899, to Ernestine, daughter of Charles Elliott of that place, and he had three children: Marian Louise, who married John Walter Smith, Ernestine and Charles Elliott. His death occurred in Tucson, AZ, September 9, 1953." (A rather artistic photograph accompanies this biographical entry.)

EXCERPT FROM THE 1985 ARCHITECTURAL/HISTORICAL STUDY

The Prairie School

In the Midwest, the important Prairie School of architecture flourished from the turn of the century until World War I. In Chicago, a group of about twenty architects, led by Frank Lloyd Wright and Louis Sullivan, were responsible for the uniquely creative Prairie School designs, usually produced for residences. The simplicity of Japanese art, the honesty of the Arts & Crafts movement, and a philosophy that the Midwest and the prairies could be represented by an architecture which was both democratic and spiritual - these were the elements which contributed to the Progressive doctrine. The physical elements included a strong emphasis on the horizontal, expressed through windows and trim arranged in bands, and low pitched, hipped roofs, with wide sheltering eaves. The materials used were natural stucco and brick with wood trim; or, in the less elaborate versions, clapboard and horizontal "board and batten" siding. Geometric designs in windows and wood trim, square porch supports, window boxes, and contrasting wood trim were typical. Prairie School house designs were widely circulated in magazines such as "House Beautiful", which was directed to the middle class homemaker interested in modern ideas. The Prairie School of architecture diminished when the individuality of the style was rejected for the more conventional and conforming historic styles by a public increasingly influenced by the fashions of the East Coast.

[Other than the Lake Geneva Hotel, there] are only a few houses [in the Town of Lake Geneva] which exhibit characteristics of the style:

420 Madison Street, a two-story cube-shaped stucco house is capped with a low pitched roof and wide eaves;

A similar but more intact house is at 429 South Lake Shore Drive.

Even the best example of the style in Lake Geneva, at 1205 Main Street, owes as much to the Bungalow form - the multi-gabled roof, wide bands of wood trim, and stucco exterior - blend elements of the two modes.

The lack of Prairie School work in Lake Geneva is probably related to the fact that the town had reached a stable population of about 5,000 people before the turn of the century, so that most of its residences had been built. The growth that did occur after 1900 was for lower to middle class families, who were interested in practical, affordable houses - not the latest architectural fashion. These families were more likely to build in the Bungalow and Craftsman styles.

Better examples of Prairie School architecture may be seen in Williams Bay.

"Towering Elms", at 160 Conference Point Road, was built in 1919. The large 2-1/2 story brick house depicts the horizontal emphasis of the style through window bands, a low pitched, side gabled roof with dormer, and encircling bands of wood trim.

A unique and handsome stucco house at 91 Stam Road is composed of two two-story wings flanking a central recessed mass, with a screened porch accessible from the three sides, in the center. Low pitched side gable roofs with wide eaves and bands of windows complete the house.

The former Church of Christ Parsonage. at 155 Geneva Street, with low pitched, hipped roofs with wide eaves, grouped windows and a box shape, conforms to the most common Prairie School type. The house, once stucco, is now aluminum sided.

In Fontana, several excellent Prairie School houses were surveyed.:

A significant and very unique stucco and wood design at 306 North Lake Shore Drive shows an oriental influence in the flared eaves, delicate wood trim and exposed rafter end detail.

"Deepwood" was designed by Edgar Martin circa 1911-1912. The house is the finest example of the later phase of Prairie School architecture at Geneva Lake. The wide, central facade is balanced by two projecting wings on the site high above the lake.

Bands of wood trim and windows reinforce the horizontal lines on the stucco house at 397 North Lake Shore Drive.

The Embree House at 372 North Lake Shore Drive, designed in 1902 by Charles Ayars, depicts an earlier stucco version of the style, with its sheltering multi-gabled roof with wide eaves.

Other Prairie School houses in Fontana include the clapboard house with full screened porch at 380 North Lake Shore Drive, the large stucco house at 477 South Lake Shore Drive in Club Unique, and another, more typically scaled, stucco type on Linden Avenue in Glenwood Springs.

Nearby, on the lake shore in Glenwood Springs, two similar Prairie School houses are built of fieldstone, brick and stucco, with emphasized wood trim and low hipped roofs, at 442 South Lake Shore Drive and at 444 South Lake Shore Drive.

In the Town of Linn, the best Prairie School design is the Lake Geneva Country Club, at 710 South Lake Shore Drive. The main clubhouse is a very long, low building of concrete block, with dark stained wood trim, grouped casement windows and a low pitched roof with dormers.

At 700 South Lake Shore Drive, "Allview" was planned in 1905 by the architect Richard E. Schmidt. The house was radically modernized in 1949, when the top two floors were removed, and the windows were altered. Two of the estate's former outbuildings remain unaltered. The guesthouse, now a residence, and the garage are stucco, with wood trim, wide eaves and the horizontal emphasis typical of the Prairie School. (emphasis and reparagraphing throughout supplied)

EXCERPTS FROM RUSSELL HOVDE'S PAPER ON HIS "EMBREE HOUSE"

Robert Spencer, one of the Prairie School architects, was born in Milwaukee, WI, on April 13, 1864, and graduated from The University of Wisconsin in 1886. He also studied at MIT and, later, in Europe for two years. His own architectural practice began in 1895 in Chicago, and, by the year 1900, was active in many areas related to the architectural profession. In June, 1900, Spencer wrote a feature article in the prestigious Architectural Review titled "The Work of Frank Lloyd Wright". Twombly, in his book, quotes a brief section:

"Few architects have given us more poetic translations of material into structure than Frank Lloyd Wright. To those who understand and know him best, he was a 'perpetual inspiration'."

Thus wrote Spencer of his friend and as, at one point, a sharer of Wright's downtown office space. Spencer also contributed seven articles for "The Ladies' Home Journal" between October, 1900, and June, 1901, where he outlined his designs for a series of "farmhouses". Similar articles appeared in other publications during this period. He became active in The Architectural Club of America through The Chicago Architectural Club and, in 1906, was one of three members of the Publishing and Editing Committee that published "The Architectural Annual", featuring selected works of member architects. Spencer, himself, contributed pictures of two huge homes, one in Winnetka, and one in Canton, IL, to the Annual. Thus, while not well known today, Spencer was quite well known to the architectural and building community in 1902, when our house was designed. Was he our man?

My understanding of Spencer, Wright and the whole "Prairie School" movement of the early 1900's was broadened immeasurably by the reading of another book first published in 1972 by The University of Toronto Press titled "The Prairie School, Frank Lloyd Wright and His Midwest Contemporaries". Written by H. Allen Brooks, it is an award-winning book filled with information, photos and plans of architects who were designing homes in the Prairie School style in the first two decades of this century. Interestingly, a testimonial to the book by Wilbert Hasbrouck appears on the flyleaf. Much space in the book is given to Spencer, although, in referring to Spencer's farmhouse designs of 1900 and 1901. Brooks says, "These Spencer projects are crude and unsophisticated compared to Wright's masterpieces, yet the similarity of concept is striking. Wright was the superior designer. . . ." In this same book was pictured a Spencer design for a "Gardener's Lodge" on Lake Delavan, WI, built in 1901-1902. It is located on the Charles A. Stevens Estate there. Charles Cameron, the well-known owner and operator of Geneva Lake Boat Company, lives on that estate (he is a descendant), but it was not until January, 1978, that we visited the property and examined it inside and out. Yes, Spencer certainly could be the architect; the circumstantial evidence was strong; but I, still, could not find the proof, one way or the other.

. . . I, also, finally got Wilbert Hasbrouck to come, and he arrived in early July. Hasbrouck . . . agreed to do further research of his records, and . . . he wrote: ". . . There is no question that your home is an excellent example of Prairie School architecture and that it was planned by a skilled designer." However, he could not find "concrete evidence" of who that skilled designer might have been. He suggested several architects, including Arthur Heun, Elmer Grey and, again, Robert Spencer, although he doubted that Spencer had, directly, done the house - meaning that someone may have seen Spencer's work in the many publications for which he wrote and emulated his ideas. . . .

CH02/21138501.1

08/26/99