Significance
The Oscar Balch House represents Frank Lloyd Wright's defiant return to the streets of Oak Park and to architecture after his absence and concurrent trip to Europe with Mamah Borthwick Cheney. The house was called "forged of Wright's personal courage and cheeky moral humbridge" by historian Thomas O'Gorman. O'Gorman concluded it was possible that the Balch House provides a rare glimpse into the subconscious mind of Frank Lloyd Wright. The Balch House is an example of Frank Lloyd Wright's fully mature Prairie style. Its flat roof and horizontal linearity are a continuation of the ideas Wright began to manifest in the Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House in 1909.
The Oscar B. Balch House is listed as a contributing property to the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District. The historic district was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places on December 4, 1973. The Balch House stands across the street from the home where Ernest Hemingway spent his boyhood years.
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Famous quotes containing the word significance:
“I am not afraid that I shall exaggerate the value and significance of life, but that I shall not be up to the occasion which it is.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Of what significance the light of day, if it is not the reflection of an inward dawn?—to what purpose is the veil of night withdrawn, if the morning reveals nothing to the soul? It is merely garish and glaring.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“It is necessary not to be Christian to appreciate the beauty and significance of the life of Christ.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)