Frank Lloyd Wright was born on the 8th of June 1867 in Richland Center, Wisconsin. His mother Anna Lloyd Jones decorated his nursery with engravings of English cathedrals to nurture his ambition.
The nine-year-old Wright spent much time playing with geometrically shaped wooden maple blocks called Froebel Gifts starting in 1876. These smooth wooden maple blocks remained in his fingers to this day according to his autobiography and became the foundation of his design philosophy for decades to come.
Two houses identified as the onset of the Prairie Style were the Hickox House and Bradley House while the Thomas House and Willits House received recognition as the first mature examples of the new style. The Robie House featured extended cantilevered roof lines supported by a 110-foot-long channel of steel.
A total of 625 people joined The Fellowship in Wright's lifetime including John H. Howe who became Wright's chief draftsman. The Fellowship evolved into The School of Architecture at Taliesin which closed under acrimonious circumstances in 2020.
The ideal emerged most completely in Herbert and Katherine Jacobs First House built in 1937 after an early version appeared in Malcolm Willey House completed in 1934. Usonian houses commonly had flat roofs constructed without basements or attics and featured walls composed of wood siding plywood cores and building paper.