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The Village

Oak Park architecture

Oak Park has the largest collection of Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes in the world, because Wright spent the first 20 years of his career here after settling in the village in 1889. The village was also dry from its founding: alcohol sales were banned until 1973, when restaurants and hotels were first allowed to serve drinks with meals.

  • 15Landmarks
  • 1889Oldest · Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
  • 4Architects

Before you go

  • Fly intoO'Hare Int'l (ORD)

    O'Hare International is the main gateway for visitors to Oak Park, which sits just west of Chicago's city limits. The Eisenhower Expressway, the primary highway between Chicago and Oak Park, also provides connections to the airport.

  • CurrencyUS Dollar ($)
  • LanguageEnglish

    English is spoken throughout this leafy village next door to Chicago, with the same broad Midwestern accent as the big city. Oak Park is proud of its literary roots too: Ernest Hemingway was born here, and Tarzan creator Edgar Rice Burroughs lived in three different homes in the village.

  • Getting aroundCTA 'L' & Metra

    Two CTA 'L' lines, the Green Line and the Blue Line, link Oak Park directly to downtown Chicago. Metra's Union Pacific West Line stops at Oak Park station in the village center. CTA and Pace buses cover local routes and connections to neighboring suburbs.

  • Where to stayFind hotels in Oak Park on Expedia Vacation rentals on Vrbo

    Stamped! may earn a commission when you book through these links.

  • Tours and ticketsFind tours in Oak Park on GetYourGuide More tours on Viator

    Skip-the-line tickets and guided tours of the landmarks. Stamped! may earn a commission.

15 landmarks in Oak Park

  1. Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
    Photo: Theemausoliam, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio

    951 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    This is where it all began: Frank Lloyd Wright built this house in 1889 and lived and worked here for two decades, expanding it again and again. Two connected buildings tell the story of his evolution, with a Shingle-style family home to the south and a Prairie-style studio to the north. The studio wing centers on a dramatic double-height drafting room, while both halves are arranged around central fireplaces. Restored to its 1909 appearance, the year Wright left, it is now a National Historic Landmark and house museum.

    Built
    1889
    Style
    Shingle Style / Prairie School
    Stories
    2
    Today
    House Museum
  2. Unity Temple
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Unity Temple

    875 Lake St, Oak Park, IL 60301

    After the congregation's old church burned down in 1905, Wright answered with a bold block of reinforced concrete that is now hailed as an early landmark of modern architecture. The building pairs an auditorium to the north with a church house, Unity House, to the south, joined by a low entrance pavilion. Recessed clerestory windows and skylights pour daylight into a worship space arranged around a central pulpit. Finished in 1908, it is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site honoring Wright's 20th-century architecture.

    Built
    1908
    Style
    Prairie School / Modernism
    Today
    Church
  3. Arthur Heurtley House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Arthur Heurtley House

    318 Forest Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Built in 1902 for banker Arthur Heurtley, this is one of the earliest houses Wright designed in the fully developed Prairie style. Bands of protruding and recessed bricks in different tones give the walls a striking horizontal rhythm beneath a low, sheltering roof. Unusually, the living and dining rooms sit on the second floor, behind horizontal bands of windows under the deep eaves. Its pinwheel motifs and details reappeared in Wright's later Prairie houses, and it is now a National Historic Landmark.

    Built
    1902
    Style
    Prairie School
    Stories
    2
    Today
    Residence
  4. Frank W. Thomas House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Frank W. Thomas House

    210 Forest Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    By Wright's own account, this 1901 design was the very first of his Prairie houses. The living spaces are raised above the street and there is no basement at all. It already shows the full Prairie toolkit: a low roof with broad overhangs, casement windows, ornate leaded glass, built-in cabinets and a central hearth. The Chicago firm Tallmadge & Watson added a rear extension in 1923.

    Built
    1901
    Style
    Prairie School
    Today
    Residence
  5. Edwin H. Cheney House
    Photo: Teemu008 from Palatine, Illinois, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Edwin H. Cheney House

    520 N East Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Designed by Wright in 1903 for electrical engineer Edwin Cheney, this brick house places its living and sleeping rooms together on one floor under a single hipped roof. A walled terrace screens it from the street, giving it a far more private, intimate feel than its grander neighbors. The windows tuck neatly between the deep eaves and a heavy stone sill that wraps around the whole house. It is part of the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District.

    Built
    1903
    Style
    Prairie School
    Stories
    1
    Today
    Residence
  6. Peter A. Beachy House
    Photo: King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Peter A. Beachy House

    238 Forest Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    This Forest Avenue home began life as a modest Gothic cottage before Wright transformed it completely in 1906. Almost nothing of the original house is visible today, replaced by Wright's Prairie-style design. It shows how Wright could reinvent an existing building rather than starting from scratch. The house is a contributing property in the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District.

    Built
    1906
    Style
    Prairie School
    Today
    Residence
  7. Laura Gale House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Laura Gale House

    6 Elizabeth Ct, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Also known as the Mrs. Thomas H. Gale House, this home on Elizabeth Court was built in 1909. It dates from the very end of Wright's Oak Park years, the same year he moved out of his own home and studio. The house sits inside the Frank Lloyd Wright-Prairie School of Architecture Historic District. It has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places since 1970.

    Built
    1909
    Style
    Prairie School
    Today
    Residence
  8. Edward R. Hills House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Edward R. Hills House

    313 Forest Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Better known as the Hills-DeCaro House, this residence started out as a Stick-style house from 1883. In 1906 Wright had it moved and essentially rebuilt in his Prairie style. The result blends two phases of his career, mixing Prairie features with ideas he had tested in the 1890s. The house went through a further reconstruction in 1977, and it is now a local Oak Park Landmark.

    Built
    1906
    Style
    Prairie School
    Today
    Residence
  9. William G. Fricke House
    Photo: Zol87 from Chicago, IL, USA, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    William G. Fricke House

    540 Fair Oaks Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Commissioned in 1901 and finished the following year, the Fricke House breaks Wright's usual rule of hugging the ground. It rises into a three-story tower, an unusual vertical gesture for him. Even so, it is full of features that would define his Prairie homes: a high water table, horizontal banding, overhanging eaves and shallow hipped roofs. Its walls are finished in an expanse of stucco.

    Built
    1902
    Style
    Prairie School
    Stories
    3
    Today
    Residence
  10. Walter Gale House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Walter Gale House

    1031 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Built in 1893 for Walter H. Gale of a prominent Oak Park family, this house was the first home Wright designed after leaving the firm of Adler & Sullivan. It is a Queen Anne design, a reminder that Wright's earliest work followed the fashions of the day. Seen next to his later Prairie houses, it shows just how far his ideas traveled in a decade. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1973.

    Built
    1893
    Style
    Queen Anne
    Today
    Residence
  11. Thomas H. Gale House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Thomas H. Gale House

    1027 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    This Queen Anne house from 1892 is one of Wright's so-called bootleg designs. He drew it on the side while still employed by Adler & Sullivan, even though Louis Sullivan forbade outside commissions. The house reveals a young architect still working within popular styles before he found his own voice. It was designated an Oak Park Landmark in 2002.

    Built
    1892
    Style
    Queen Anne
    Today
    Residence
  12. Robert P. Parker House
    Photo: IvoShandor, CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons

    Robert P. Parker House

    1019 Chicago Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Another of Wright's early bootleg houses, this Queen Anne home was designed in 1892 while he was secretly moonlighting from Adler & Sullivan. Real-estate agent Thomas H. Gale had it built and sold it to Robert P. Parker later that same year. It stands on the same stretch of Chicago Avenue as the Thomas H. Gale House, another bootleg design from that year. Together they offer a rare look at Wright before the Prairie style.

    Built
    1892
    Style
    Queen Anne
    Today
    Residence
  13. Pleasant Home
    Photo: George Maher architect, photographer unknown, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

    Pleasant Home

    217 Home Ave, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Also known as the John Farson House, this large Prairie-style mansion was designed by George Washington Maher and completed in 1897. It proves that Wright was not the only architect shaping Oak Park's distinctive look. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972, the house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996.

    Built
    1897
    Architect
    George W. Maher
    Style
    Prairie School
    Today
    Historic House
  14. Ernest Hemingway Birthplace
    Photo: MauraWen, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Ernest Hemingway Birthplace

    Oak Park, IL 60302

    Ernest Hemingway was born in this Queen Anne house, designed by Wesley Arnold and built in 1890, and he lived here for the first six years of his life. After the family sold it in 1905, the house was remodeled and split into several apartments. The Ernest Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park bought it in 1992 and used old photographs and descriptions to restore it to its original look. Since 2001 it has welcomed visitors as a Hemingway museum.

    Built
    1890
    Architect
    Wesley Arnold
    Style
    Queen Anne
    Today
    Museum
  15. Oak Park Village Hall
    Photo: Bumby, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons

    Oak Park Village Hall

    123 Madison St, Oak Park, IL 60302

    Chicago architect Harry Weese designed this Modernist village hall, completed in 1975. It was a deliberate investment in Oak Park's east side, part of a campaign to stop white flight and keep the village integrated. The brick building wraps around an enclosed central courtyard, with a ribbon window running along the roofline. A triangular council chamber is reached by a long ramp threaded through brick pylons, and the hall joined the National Register of Historic Places in 2014.

    Built
    1975
    Architect
    Harry Weese
    Style
    Modernism
    Today
    City Hall

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