The F. F. Tomek House, also known as The Ship House or as the Ferdinand Frederick and Emily Tomek House, is a historic house in

Riverside, Illinois Riverside is a suburban village in Cook County, Illinois, United States. The population of the village was 9,298 at the 2020 census. It is a suburb of Chicago, located roughly west of downtown Chicago and outside city limits. A significant por ...

. It is a prominent example of

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped i ...

design by

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright Sr. (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed List of Frank Lloyd Wright works, more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key ...

. Designed in 1904 and construction finished in 1906, the Tomek House is a well-preserved example of the style. In addition to being a good example of the Prairie style, the Tomek house documents the development of the style, which reached its clearest expression in Wright's

Robie House The Robie House (also the Frederick C. Robie House) is a historic house museum on the campus of the University of Chicago in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago, Illinois, United States. Designed by the architect Frank Llo ...

in 1908. It is included in the Riverside Historic District and was declared a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1999. and

History

The Tomek house was constructed for Ferdinand Frederick Tomek from 1905 to 1906. Tomek worked in a factory that produced picture frames and wooden moldings. The Tomeks resided in the house until 1924. The house is considered an important artifact of the development of

of design.

Barry Byrne Francis Barry Byrne (December 19, 1883 – December 18, 1967) was a member of the group of architects known as the Prairie School. After the demise of the Prairie School, about 1914 to 1916, Byrne continued as a successful architect by dev ...

was the assistant architect for the house. The Tomek house served as a model for the

, Wright's famed 1910 design. Like most of his projects, Wright designed the furniture for the Tomek house. In 1973, the Illinois Historic Structures Survey identified it as a significant site. The house has been extensively restored. The

Illinois Department of Conservation Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash and Ohio rivers to its south. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the fifth-large ...

approved a grant for this purpose to the Moran family in 1979. The Illinois Historic Preservation Agency approved the changes and issued a Certificate of Rehabilitation. In 1993, the

Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy The Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy is an organization devoted to the historic preservation of buildings and their furnishings and decoration designed by American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, as well as to the study of Wright's career. T ...

was offered an

easement An easement is a Nonpossessory interest in land, nonpossessory right to use or enter onto the real property of another without possessing it. It is "best typified in the right of way which one landowner, A, may enjoy over the land of another, B" ...

to help protect the residence. On January 20, 1999, the house was named a

by the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

, owing to its role as a site of national-level significance.

References

* (S.128)

External links

Down to Earth: An Insider's View of Frank Lloyd Wright's Tomek House
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tomek House Historic district contributing properties in Illinois Frank Lloyd Wright buildings Houses completed in 1906 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Cook County, Illinois National Historic Landmarks in Illinois Riverside, Illinois 1906 establishments in Illinois

History

See also

References

External links