LOCATION: Lake Forest, Illinois — Hugging the shores of Lake Michigan, about 45 minutes north of downtown Chicago, Lake Forest is a suburb of top-dollar homes nestled among forest preserves and golf clubs. 170 North Mayflower Road sits close to the water: A five-minute drive north takes you to Lake Forest Beach, which has multiple protected swimming beaches, playgrounds, volleyball courts, and a boat ramp. And a short drive inland takes you to the town center, anchored by Market Square, a pedestrian-friendly shopping hub modeled after old European villages, and the Lake Forest stop on the Union Pacific North line of the Metra commuter rail system.
PRICE: $2,275,000
SPECS: 4 beds, 4 baths, 4,300 square feet, 1.92 acres — While the Chicago suburb of Oak Park boasts a wealth of early Frank Lloyd Wright designs, the Charles F. Glore House is the only Wright work in Lake Forest. Built in 1954 in the Usonian style, the home features Wright trademarks like clerestory windows, built-in bookshelves, mahogany panels, four fireplaces (three of which are cantilevered), and an abundance of brick. The home also incorporates some updates, including an expanded dining room after enclosing a deck, new windows, and gray concrete floors in place of the badly patched-up original red radiant-heat floors. (Wright used radiant-heat systems in many of his Usonian homes as one expression of his theory of organic architecture, in which all the elements of a building should feel unified.)
NOTABLE FEATURE: In the living room, dramatic double-height cathedral windows envelop the space in leafy views of the backyard. Like in many of Wright’s designs, the home has tiny bedrooms, forcing residents to congregate in the main common areas. But it’s all worth it. As owner Megan Beidler put it when the place was featured in a Curbed home tour in 2017, “We have a front-row seat on the world around the house.”
Article originally posted by DWELL
