John Franke House - Ft. Wayne, IN
Francis Barry Byrne designed this home in the Prairie School style of architectural design for John B. Franke of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. Randal did this line illustration of the home based upon a visit to the site in the early 1980’s.
Great work!
I had been told that this house was initially commissioned to Frank Lloyd Wright who then passed it on to Walter Burley Griffin. Interesting.
Nancy,
That’s very interesting. So, did Francis Barry Byrne work for Griffin? I wonder why the house is attributed to Francis Barry Byrne? See: http://www.prairieschooltraveler.com/html/in/fortwayne/franke.html
Randal
To Randal: I have no idea who Francis Barry Byrne worked for, but Walter Burley Griffin worked for Frank Lloyd Wright. The house is so obviously Prairie Style architecture, and at that time, Wright pretty much had that tied up. On the other hand, these guys freely associated with each other . . . so who knows. BTW, it was the occupant of the house (perhaps 6-8 years ago) who told me about Walter Burley Griffin. Being a Wright fan, I knew the name and was not surprised that FLW had handed this off, probably in favor of a more “important” opportunity. Anyway, I’m as confused as the next guy.
OK, I just looked up Francis Barry Byrne. He grew up in Chicago, and although he had no formal training, he found employment at FLW’s Oak Park Studio with — guess who — Walter Burley Griffin and Marion Mahoney, the Master’s sidekicks. Officially, they were all draftsmen, but obviously some had skills that exceeded others. When FLW ran off with Mrs. Cheney, the business fell apart, and the group scattered. My best guess is that FLW did the actual basic design but let the others add the details and take the credit. Interesting.