Imagine a beautiful playroom for children, decked out for a Victorian Christmas. Its 12-foot tree is adorned with handmade ornaments, tiny lights, and of course, stunningly-wrapped presents.
Stockings are hung from the cozy fireplace, where a fire is blazing. The sweet smell of pine permeates through the air.
Sound like a magical Yuletide?
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It once was the real-life scene at Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park home. And each year, some of it is re-created for the public to check out.
Save the date and take a tour and see for yourself — for free, one day only. The Frank Lloyd Wright Trust is inviting the community on Dec. 2 to Wright’s Oak Park Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Ave., for a special event, Home for the Holidays. Wright’s home will be decked for the holidays as it was when the family lived in the house.
The open house tours will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., but registration is required online at flwright.org/homefortheholidays.
The 12-foot Christmas tree will be decorated with period ornaments. Seasonal floral arrangements in harmony with Wright’s organic design philosophy will decorate the interior and exterior of the home and studio building, said trust curator David Bagnall.
The decorations are inspired by accounts from the Wright family, particularly the recollections of Wright’s son, John, said Bagnall.
According to the trust’s website, John Lloyd Wright recalled that, “On Christmas morning we would run eagerly to the playroom fireplace where we had hung our stockings the night before. … The day flew by in festive noise, everyone full of smiles and happy.”
Most of the decorations nowadays have been donated to the trust over the years, said Bagnall. “They are predominantly early 20th century decorations,” he said.
After the tour, which also includes hot cocoa and cookies, families can participate in a design project in Wright’s studio. Paper supplies and scissors will be available in the drafting room to create holiday greeting cards, with decorations inspired by Wright’s designs.
The decorations will remain up until the first week of January, and if you can’t make it the freebie day, regular tours at the home and studio take place every 30 minutes from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. in December. Admission is normally $18 for adults and $15 for students, seniors 65 and older and members of the military. (Children 3 and under are free).
Bagnall said the trust has been an anchor in Oak Park and River Forest for more than 40 years, and opening up Frank Lloyd Wright’s former home for an open house is its way of spreading the importance — and showing the traditions — of the famed master architect and the house in which he and his family lived.
“We host free open houses at the home and studio to share this important building with our community neighbors,” he said.
Felicia Dechter is a freelance columnist for Pioneer Press.