Oak Park’s Frank Lloyd Wright district expands by 400 buildings
February 22, 2012 9:36AM
Wasmuth house in Oak Park is a classic example of Frank Lloyd Wright's architecture.
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Updated: March 29, 2012 4:07PM
The Oak Park Village Board voted unanimously Tuesday to expand the current boundaries of the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District.
That will add 444 more properties to the district, bringing the total up to 1,938 properties.
Twenty-three properties have Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings, said Doug Kaarre, Oak Park’s historic preservation urban planner.
“It’s a great achievement to have a positive conclusion after the last six years of working toward this,” said Kaarre.
The designation should go into effect immediately, though it will realistically take a few days to get lists and maps updated, Kaarre said.
The revised district roughly includes the area bounded by Division Street on the north, Lake and Ontario streets on the south, Ridgeland Avenue on the east and Harlem Avenue on the west. The largest area is south of Division along Belleforte, Forest and North Marion, said Kaarre.
According to the village’s website, the Historic District was first designated in 1972 with the current boundaries and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. The boundaries of the National Register Historic District were expanded in 2009, and with the new designation, the two boundaries will now more closely match.
The entire process was something that needed to be carefully considered and well-thought out, said Historic Preservation Commission Chairman Chris Morris. She said the commission will be notifying people of the expansion and making sure everyone understands they will be working on the process, streamlining it.
“Everyone is trying to do the right thing here,” said Morris. “It’s very, very positive, and everyone feels like it’s a good thing for the village.”
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