5 Historic Sites in Oak Park That You Shouldn't Miss

Join the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust on May 22, 2021 for the annual Wright Plus Architectural Housewalk. Wright Plus celebrates architecture, design, Frank Lloyd Wright's innovative vision and the talents of his fellow architects. It is an enjoyable day featuring rare interior tours of private homes and public buildings designed by Wright and his contemporaries.

To ensure the health and safety of our guests, tours at the Home and Studio return on June 11 and are limited to nine guests per time slot. (Updated 6/2/20) The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park, Illinois served as Wright's private residence and workplace from 1889 to 1909--the first 20 years of his career. Today, Oak Park is home to the world’s largest collection of Wright-designed buildings. Wright used his first home to experiment with design concepts that contain the seeds of his architectural philosophy. In his adjacent studio, Wright and his associates developed a new American architecture - the Prairie style. Enjoy guided tours of the museum complex and neighboring historic district seven days a week. Trained interpreters offer insights into Wright's family life and architectural legacy. Tour details are available on the Frank Lloyd Wright Trust website

Unity Temple (1905-08) is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site on the 20th Century Architecture of Frank Lloyd Wright List, and represents a defining moment in Frank Lloyd Wright’s early career. Designed in Wright’s Oak Park Studio for his own Unitarian congregation, it is one of the first public buildings in America to feature exposed concrete and is Wright’s greatest public building of his Prairie era. The harmony of the building’s strikingly geometric architecture and decorative elements exemplifies Wright’s theory of organic design. Unity Temple announced a new era of innovation in modern architecture.

Ernest Hemingway's Birthplace Museum is nestled just west of downtown Chicago in Oak Park, Illinois. This is the ideal place to begin exploring the roots of the author's life and work. It is here that Ernest Hemingway was born in a second floor bedroom on July 21, 1899. This Queen Anne home was built in 1890 by his maternal grandparents and was the first home in Oak Park to have electricity. The famed Pulitzer Prize winning author spent the first six years of his life at what is now 339 N. Oak Park Ave. The restoration, which began in 1992, authentically returned the house to its 1890s’ Victorian heritage; ensuring that your experience of the furnishings and stories told reflect the young man who lived there.