Charles E. Roberts Stable - Architecture

Architecture

The house elicits in its a viewer a distinct "English feel." Indeed, through its many remodelings the building is cast in the Tudor Revival style of architecture. The structure displays a steeply pitched, side gabled roof, rounded bay and half-timbering, all common elements of the Tudor Revival style. Other 1890s Wright designed buildings also displayed a connection to the traditional domestic architecture styles. The house has a vertical upsweep which projects a sense of shelter and safety associated with Wright's broad, overhanging eaves found in Wright's roof designs. White carried Wright's design a step further in his remodel but Wright's architectural skill is still evident in the structure.

The home expresses a familial coziness, common to Wright's later early modern Prairie homes. The entire idea of barn conversion, in the late 19th century, was an architectural leap forward. Wright's work on the stable introduced angularity and converted it from a barn to a building which expressed a meld of country charm and modernity. O'Gorman compared the home to those designed by architect Edward Luytens. The prominent roof features second-story dormers and its massive scale is balanced by Wright's placement of towering chimneys at either end of the house. The home's front facade is obscured by bushes, trees and landscaping during the warmer months and the home is best viewed in autumn or winter.