September 29, 2016 - October 2, 2016
Chicago…Second City? Hardly, when it comes to some of the finest classically designed homes in the nation. Such names as David Adler, Howard Van Doren Shaw, Harrie T. Lindeberg and others conjure up images of fabulous American domestic architecture built during the better part of the first half of the 20th century.
Howard Van Doren Shaw (1869 – 1926) and David Adler (1882 – 1949) were just two of the Chicago area’s leading architects whose names are synonymous with stunning country houses in established North Shore communities like Lake Forest, Lake Bluff and Highland Park. Shaw’s brilliant work reveals his admiration for the English country house designs of his contemporary, Sir Edwin Lutyens and the earlier Arts and Crafts ideas of architects C.F.A. Voysey and Baillie Scott. One of Shaw’s major themes can be seen in the horizontality of his architectural designs, a theme often viewed within the Prairie School of Architecture. In Shaw’s case, he remains “within the forms and associative meaning of traditional architecture,” quoting Stuart Cohen in his new book on the architect.
