The work of the Chicago School is marked largely by strong horizontal lines which serve to make the building seem more at home on the 
level sites of the western plains. A house at Riverside, Ill., Frank Lloyd Wright, architect 
Country 
Homes of 
by Hugh M. 
the Western Plains 
G. Garden 
[The problem of choosing an architectural style for the American country or suburban home is one of the most puzzling that confront the home¬ 
builder. In order to bring about a better understanding of the more common types and with the idea of clarifying, as far as possible, this whole matter, 
we have asked a number of prominent architects to present each the case for one particular style. In the December issue Mr. Frank E. Wallis, the well 
knowm authority on Colonial architecture, told why a house of that type is the only one to build. Mr. Allen W. Jackson presented in the lanuary issue 
the case for the Half-timber house. In February Mr. Aymar Embury, II., added his convincing argument for the picturesque Dutch Colonial. Mr. 
I. Lovell Little, Jr., told the merits of English Plaster houses in March, and in May Mr. Louis Boynton wrote in favor of Italian adaptations for Amer¬ 
ican homes. Several other styles will be explained and illustrated in future issues .— Editor.] 
I AM asked to contri¬ 
bute something on 
an unnamed style some¬ 
times vaguely referred to 
as the product of the 
Western or Chicago 
school — it would be pre¬ 
sumption to appropriate 
to anything so tenuous 
the imposing title ‘‘Amer¬ 
ican Style.” The reader 
who has followed the 
previous contributions has 
perhaps noticed that each 
author insists that the 
style chosen shall closely 
lit and express the local 
conditions. He has been 
shown that the English¬ 
man, the Dutchman, the 
Italian of a bygone cen¬ 
tury, has each in his way 
A suburban home that rests solidly on the ground by reason of its broad stone 
base. Plain brick and plaster surfaces with stained wood strips secure the 
entire decorative effect. Walter Burley Griffen, architect 
produced a style or type of 
building that fits our local 
conditions and fits it bet¬ 
ter than any other style or 
type. All the authorities, 
of course, cannot be right, 
but all may be partly 
right, and 1 think that ex¬ 
amination of the various 
arguments will show that 
the qualities which recom¬ 
mend each are broadly 
alike. The reader then is 
left where he began, and 
it remains, after all, a 
matter of choice, with 
similar arguments recom¬ 
mending different styles. 
There is, however, a 
common gap in each ar¬ 
gument. Let us take, for 
instance, the argument by 
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