page_title: Nathan G. Moore House
section_title: Fire and second Wright design
hierarchical_section_title: Nathan G. Moore House / History / Fire and second Wright design
caption_attribution_description: English: Nathan G. Moore House viewed from the corner of Superior Street and Forest Avenue. Nathan G. Moore house from the street.
context_page_description: The Nathan G. Moore House, also known as the Moore-Dugal Residence, is a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright. The house was built one block south of Wright's home and studio at 333 Forest Avenue in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park, Illinois. It was originally completed in 1895 in the Tudor Revival style at the request of client Nathan Moore. Wright obliged his client's wishes, but long after disliked the house for its adherence to historical styles.
  A 1922 fire gave Wright the opportunity to redesign the house. The structure was completely rebuilt above the first or lowest floor in a manner in keeping with Wright's other works of the late 1910s and early 1920s. While the new design stayed evocative of Tudor architecture, the house was heavily ornamented by details of Sullivanesque, Mayan, and other exotic origins. Wright's second scheme remains largely intact today and the house continues to be a private residence despite a brief period as a tour home.
context_section_description: In the early morning of December 23, 1922, an electrical fire destroyed the third floor and caused significant damage to the lower floors of the Nathan G. Moore House. At the time, Wright was engaged in the construction of several projects in California, but he accepted Moore's request to design the reconstruction and appointed Charles E. White, Jr. as local coordinator. Within a year the house was again ready to be occupied.
  While Wright took this opportunity to completely redesign the house, he retained the essence of the Tudor style. The foundations as well as most of the first floor walls and south porch were retained. A slate roof and masonry chimneys were rebuilt in almost identical form to the originals, but Wright chose to leave out the second floor walls. The new roof sat directly on the first floor, thus making the entire structure significantly shorter. The pitched roof of the previous porch was traded for a second floor terrace with two open lightwells to the porch below.
  This second house was more imbued with integral ornament than the first. A simple, first floor bay window in the east elevation was exchanged for one with a Gothic motif. Each side featured paired lancet windows and a facing of intricately adorned terracotta. While half-timbering was limited to the peaks of three gables, the remaining surfaces were replaced by banding of terracotta and heavily carved, geometrically patterned wood. In these details, Wright not only drew inspiration from English Tudor, but also from Mayan architecture and the elaborate, organic style of Louis Sullivan. The result showed similarities to other Wright designs of the period, including Midway Gardens (1913), the Imperial Hotel (1915–23), the Hollyhock House (1917–1921), and the four textile block houses (1923). The stables and garden house, which both survived the fire and retained original detailing, serve as a comparison between the styles of the earlier and later designs.
caption: Nathan G. Moore House viewed from the corner of Superior Street and Forest Avenue.
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