Thomas P. Hardy House

Thomas P. Hardy House
Location: Racine, Wisconsin
Built: 1905
Architect: Frank Lloyd Wright
Architectural style: Prairie school
Governing body: Private
NRHP Reference#: 74000120[1]
Added to NRHP: December 3, 1974

The Thomas P. Hardy House is a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Prairie school home in Racine, Wisconsin that was built in 1905. The house is unimpressive when seen from the street, but striking when viewed from the Lake Michigan shoreline.

Perched on a bluff overlooking Lake Michigan, the house is built vertically up and down the hillside, and has a partial basement. The design of the seven art glass windows on the first floor facing the street is an abstraction of the floorplan of the house itself. Most of the windows are either on the top level, or on the lake side. Not visible from the street side are the terrace, one story below street level, and the living room which, with its upper-story balcony, opens the entire living quarters to the lake view.

This house demonstrates Wright's desire to build right up to the land line. Most of the homes on this street are pretty close to the sidewalk, since the hill drops away from the street pretty quickly, but Wright's entryway for the Hardy house is literally at the line of the sidewalk.

References

  1. ^ "National Register of Historical Places - WISCONSIN (WI), Racine County". National Register of Historical Places - WISCONSIN (WI), Racine County. National Park Service. January 27, 2009. http://www.nationalregisterofhistoricplaces.com/wi/Racine/state.html. 

Hertzberg, Mark. "Frank Lloyd Wright's Hardy House." Pomegranate, 2006, ISBN: 0-7649-3761-8 (978-0-7649-3761-3).

External links