Bagley House

When I was at work the other day information about this house, the Frederick and Grace Bagley House in Hinsdale, popped up in my Facebook feed. Andy and I were doing some Christmas shopping yesterday so we stopped in.

Not a typical Prairie style house he's known for, but it was one of Frank Lloyd Wright's earliest commissions (1894) when he started his own architecture business. The planters are marble. The owner, Frederick Bagley, dealt in architectural marble.

It was going to be demolished but a FLWright-loving couple from Los Angeles bought it ($1.4 million if my research is right). They plan to restore it. This is Wright-ish -- the small door opening into a larger room and the built-ins and odd shape of the room.

A closer view of the same room. Look at the patterns in the wood floor.

We found a very small bathroom. Andy couldn't even stand up straight.

Pretty glass windows and tilework.

Through this door on the left is the tiny bathroom. At the end of the hallway is the kitchen.

The kitchen needs a lot of work.

Door leading out to the front of the house.

To get some tax advantages, the new owners hired a historian and an architectural historian to find some historic signifance to the home (on top of being one of Wright's earliest designs) and got local landmark status. They found the house was built as a summer home for the Bagleys, who lived on Chicago's fashionable South Side. Grace Bagley, who was involved on many social agency boards, had a close relationship with Jane Addams and became a national social reformer.

Some of the self-guided tour. The home, being a private residence, was only open for the free tours on a limited schedule, weekends Nov. 18 through Dec. 17. It would be interesting to return after the restoration if they open the house to tours.

Picture of the outside of the original house. There's a newer addition on the back.

Of course we had to drive around a bit and gawk at the mansions in Hinsdale. As Andy says, he wouldn't want to have their heating bills.

Right after I took a picture of the Christmas decorations at this house the owner pulled out of his driveway in his Bentley ... so I waved at him. Pretty sure he's used to it.

There was some sort of holiday walk happening in the downtown area. Lots of people were lined up for horse-drawn wagon rides. It was a perfect day for it, sunny and temps in the 50s.