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John Van Bergen design: James Irving Residence, 2771
Crawford Avenue, Evanston, Illinois Some treats come along once in a
lifetime. For example, I was fortunate
to watch a FLW design being built from the ground up (the Visitor Center at
Florida Southern College). Another
rare treat was seeing a prairie house cut up into pieces to be moved to a new
location. Growing up in Oak Park, John Van
Bergen was influenced by neighbors’ houses designed by Frank Lloyd
Wright. He later went to work at
Wright’s Oak Park studio and was an essential part of the team that designed
and built the Robie House (S.127) and the Mrs. Thomas Gale
House (S.098). When Wright went to Europe, Van Bergen
remained to wind down the Oak Park operations. He eventually shifted to working with
William Drummond and, in 1911, established his own practice, with an emphasis
on prairie-style homes. His design for James Irving was
executed in 1928 at 1318 Isabella Street in Wilmette and is credited
as an interpretation of Wright’s Isabel Roberts residence (S.150). In 2014 the owner of the land had
other plans for his land. Rather than
destroy the house, though, he sold it to an architect
who offered to have it moved to a new lot in Evanston. While that lot was being prepared, the
house was cut into pieces and trucked for storage to a parking lot at the
corner of Isabella and Green Bay Road.
There I found it on a dark autumn night. In 2015 the house was transplanted
to
Evanston. In 2017 it was placed on the market. Its new location makes it easy to view – it
is on the corner of Crawford and Old Glenview Road, and has an alley in back
to allow views from three sides. Transit photos: October 18, 2014. Permanent location: September 1, 2017. |
Comparison:
Irving (Van Bergen) and Roberts (Wright):
Permanent home:
New
10/28/2014 Revised
10/02/2017 |
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