Prairie: 1910-1920

Prairie: 1910-1920

The Prairie Style was a short-lived early 20th century style that grew out of the early work of Chicago architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The designs emphasize horizontality and display a low, wide massing. The houses are usually capped by low-pitched hip roofs with widely overhanging eaves.

Examples Found in Belmont:

Emory F. Chaffee House, 1913 | 24 Cedar Rd. 

Constructed in 1913, the house at 24 Cedar Road is a rare and well-preserved local example of the Prairie Style and was likely inspired by architectural journals/popular magazines of the day. The two-story building is capped by a characteristic low-pitched hip roof with widely overhanging eaves. Roofs on the front and side porches are similarly cantilevered. The exterior of the house is stuccoed with contrasting wood trim emphasizing the upper story and the horizontality of the structure. Additional woodwork trim of a more structural nature is bolted to the masonry piers of the front porch and on the east sunporch to support the overhanging eaves. 

John L. Goss House, 1915 | 18 Oak Ave. 

Constructed in 1915, the Goss House at 18 Oak Avenue is a Craftsman style, wood-shingled dwelling that shows the influence of the Prairie Style in its widely overhanging eaves and its sense of horizontality which is reinforced by the placement of a porch on one side of the main house block and a porte cochere on the other.