This talk surveys the 1957 campaign to halt the demolition of Frank Lloyd Wright's iconic Frederick C. Robie House, constructed in Chicago in 1909. The house essentially codified Wright's Prairie School designs and helped revolutionize Modern architecture. The successful grassroots campaign, which included direct participation by Wright, soon loomed nearly as large in preservation history as the building did in architectural history. A landmark in the making of landmarks, the campaign helped transform the very nature of the preservation movement, both for better and for worse.
Daniel Bluestone is Professor Emeritus, History of Art and Architecture, Boston University. He is an architectural historian, award winning author, and an advocate of architectural and community preservation.
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