Robert M. Lamp House
Encyclopedia
The Robert M. Lamp House (1903) is a residence at 22 N. Butler Street in Madison, Wisconsin
, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
for "Robie" Lamp (1866–1916), a realtor, insurance agent, and Madison City Treasurer. Lamp resided here with his parents and an aunt until their passing, and later with his wife and stepson. He selected this location one and a half blocks east of the Capitol Square
because of its proximity to his office on Pinckney Street. He sometimes walked to work, but because of a withered leg he used crutches and canes, and he usually drove to work. Boyhood friends, Wright and Lamp shared a June 8 birthday, though they were born one year apart, and they remained close until Lamp's premature death at age 49. From early on, Wright called Lamp "Pinky" or "Ruby" because of his red hair, and he also used these nicknames for the youngest of his four sons, David Wright.
The simple, boxy shape of the Lamp House was quite modern for its time and marks a transition between the styles of the Chicago School
and the Prairie School
. Contemporaries dubbed it "New American" in design, while the casement window
s were "Old English" in inspiration. Some elements, including the diamond-shaped ornamentation in the brickwork and the corner piers
rising to the height of the second-story window sills, have been attributed to Wright's draftsman Walter Burley Griffin
. Massive corner piers were a hallmark of Wright's nearly contemporaneous Larkin Building
(1904) in Buffalo, New York. The house was carried out not in house brick but in cream-colored commercial brick, which Wright had also used in his own home (1895) and studio (1898)
in Oak Park, Illinois. The Lamp House's diamond-paned windows with frames painted a dark brownish red also echoed those of Wright's Oak Park home and studio, which Lamp visited many times. Sometime after Lamp's death, the building was painted white.
The house has an unusual mid-block site and is accessible from the street only via a narrow, ascending driveway between two houses. The "keyhole" lot then opens up, producing a compression / release dynamic encountered frequently in Wright's works. This telescoping effect contributes to the monumental impression made by the house, which is further heightened by two flights of poured concrete steps, so that the visitor approaches the house through a three-stage mount from driveway to front facade—a layout shared, for example, with Wright's Westcott House in Ohio, built five years later. It is also characteristic of Wright's design that the entrance door is not visible as one approaches the house but is out of sight, around the corner on the north side, which has a paved veranda the full length of the house.
A small vestibule opens into a large, rectangular living room occupying the entire eastern half of the ground floor, while the western side has a dining room open to the living room and a kitchen. Within the living room, a triangular-shaped fireplace—a feature shared with the nearly contemporaneous Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wisconsin—is positioned at the center of the house rather than at the more traditional location of an exterior wall. A flight of stairs between dining room and kitchen leads to the second floor, where four bedrooms and a bathroom are connected by a central hallway positioned directly above the fireplace downstairs—the flue is divided and diverted up through the walls of the hallway. The stairway continues up to the roof level. From the top floor, the house originally afforded views of the nearby Capitol
as well as both Lake Mendota
to the north and Lake Monona
to the south. Robert Lamp, a skilled oarsman himself, enjoyed watching boaters on the lakes from an elegant roof garden complete with a greenhouse and an impressive grape arbor grown on a pergola. The penthouse
enclosure on the roof is a later addition, the pergola was deconstructed in the 1960s, and the view of Lake Monona is now blocked by a high-rise on an adjacent lot.
Despite its downtown location, the Lamp House has a secluded feel because of its mid-block site. It has always been surrounded on all four sides by other residential buildings. In addition to laying out the driveway and steps leading up to the eastern side of the house as well as the veranda on its north side, Wright hardscaped the lot with urns (now missing), curbs, and concrete-capped rubblestone retaining walls to shape an extensive yard and garden, sculpting the grounds into a gently sloping, multi-tiered space on what had originally been a steeply sloped lot. The basement receives sufficient sunlight from a window on the eastern facade to successfully overwinter tender garden plants in containers.
The open floor plan Wright developed for the Lamp House became a standard in the following years, reused in no fewer than 25 of his later projects, including the Barton House (1903–04) in Buffalo, New York, and adapted by Prairie School architects in numerous other projects. Wright adapted it in a plan he published in 1907, titled "A Fireproof House for $5000
" which became one of the standard modern residential floor plans of the period up to about 1920.
Madison, Wisconsin
Madison is the capital of the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Dane County. It is also home to the University of Wisconsin–Madison....
, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright
Frank Lloyd Wright was an American architect, interior designer, writer and educator, who designed more than 1,000 structures and completed 500 works. Wright believed in designing structures which were in harmony with humanity and its environment, a philosophy he called organic architecture...
for "Robie" Lamp (1866–1916), a realtor, insurance agent, and Madison City Treasurer. Lamp resided here with his parents and an aunt until their passing, and later with his wife and stepson. He selected this location one and a half blocks east of the Capitol Square
Wisconsin State Capitol
The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed during 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature...
because of its proximity to his office on Pinckney Street. He sometimes walked to work, but because of a withered leg he used crutches and canes, and he usually drove to work. Boyhood friends, Wright and Lamp shared a June 8 birthday, though they were born one year apart, and they remained close until Lamp's premature death at age 49. From early on, Wright called Lamp "Pinky" or "Ruby" because of his red hair, and he also used these nicknames for the youngest of his four sons, David Wright.
The simple, boxy shape of the Lamp House was quite modern for its time and marks a transition between the styles of the Chicago School
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
and the Prairie School
Prairie School
Prairie School was a late 19th and early 20th century architectural style, most common to the Midwestern United States.The works of the Prairie School architects are usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in horizontal bands,...
. Contemporaries dubbed it "New American" in design, while the casement window
Casement window
A casement window is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a window that is attached to its frame by one or more hinges. Casement windows are hinged at the side. A casement window (or casement) is a...
s were "Old English" in inspiration. Some elements, including the diamond-shaped ornamentation in the brickwork and the corner piers
Pier (architecture)
In architecture, a pier is an upright support for a superstructure, such as an arch or bridge. Sections of wall between openings function as piers. The simplest cross section of the pier is square, or rectangular, although other shapes are also common, such as the richly articulated piers of Donato...
rising to the height of the second-story window sills, have been attributed to Wright's draftsman Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin
Walter Burley Griffin was an American architect and landscape architect, who is best known for his role in designing Canberra, Australia's capital city...
. Massive corner piers were a hallmark of Wright's nearly contemporaneous Larkin Building
Larkin Administration Building
The Larkin Building was designed in 1904 by Frank Lloyd Wright and built in 1906 for the Larkin Soap Company of Buffalo, New York. The five story dark red brick building used pink tinted mortar and utilized steel frame construction. It was noted for many innovations, including air conditioning,...
(1904) in Buffalo, New York. The house was carried out not in house brick but in cream-colored commercial brick, which Wright had also used in his own home (1895) and studio (1898)
Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio
The Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio at 951 Chicago Avenue in Oak Park, Illinois, has been restored by the Frank Lloyd Wright Preservation Trust to its appearance in 1909, the last year Frank Lloyd Wright lived there with his family. Frank Lloyd Wright purchased the property and built the home in...
in Oak Park, Illinois. The Lamp House's diamond-paned windows with frames painted a dark brownish red also echoed those of Wright's Oak Park home and studio, which Lamp visited many times. Sometime after Lamp's death, the building was painted white.
The house has an unusual mid-block site and is accessible from the street only via a narrow, ascending driveway between two houses. The "keyhole" lot then opens up, producing a compression / release dynamic encountered frequently in Wright's works. This telescoping effect contributes to the monumental impression made by the house, which is further heightened by two flights of poured concrete steps, so that the visitor approaches the house through a three-stage mount from driveway to front facade—a layout shared, for example, with Wright's Westcott House in Ohio, built five years later. It is also characteristic of Wright's design that the entrance door is not visible as one approaches the house but is out of sight, around the corner on the north side, which has a paved veranda the full length of the house.
A small vestibule opens into a large, rectangular living room occupying the entire eastern half of the ground floor, while the western side has a dining room open to the living room and a kitchen. Within the living room, a triangular-shaped fireplace—a feature shared with the nearly contemporaneous Hillside Home School in Spring Green, Wisconsin—is positioned at the center of the house rather than at the more traditional location of an exterior wall. A flight of stairs between dining room and kitchen leads to the second floor, where four bedrooms and a bathroom are connected by a central hallway positioned directly above the fireplace downstairs—the flue is divided and diverted up through the walls of the hallway. The stairway continues up to the roof level. From the top floor, the house originally afforded views of the nearby Capitol
Wisconsin State Capitol
The Wisconsin State Capitol, in Madison, Wisconsin, houses both chambers of the Wisconsin legislature along with the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the Office of the Governor. Completed during 1917, the building is the fifth to serve as the Wisconsin capitol since the first territorial legislature...
as well as both Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota is the northernmost and largest of the four lakes near Madison, Wisconsin. The lake borders Madison on the north, east and south, Middleton on the west, Shorewood Hills on the southwest, Maple Bluff on the northeast, and Westport on the northwest....
to the north and Lake Monona
Lake Monona
Lake Monona is a freshwater drainage lake in Dane County, Wisconsin surrounded on three sides by the city of Madison, Wisconsin and on the south side by the city of Monona, Wisconsin. It is the second-largest of a chain of four lakes along the Yahara River in the area and forms the south shore of...
to the south. Robert Lamp, a skilled oarsman himself, enjoyed watching boaters on the lakes from an elegant roof garden complete with a greenhouse and an impressive grape arbor grown on a pergola. The penthouse
Penthouse apartment
A penthouse apartment or penthouse is an apartment that is on one of the highest floors of an apartment building. Penthouses are typically differentiated from other apartments by luxury features.-History:...
enclosure on the roof is a later addition, the pergola was deconstructed in the 1960s, and the view of Lake Monona is now blocked by a high-rise on an adjacent lot.
Despite its downtown location, the Lamp House has a secluded feel because of its mid-block site. It has always been surrounded on all four sides by other residential buildings. In addition to laying out the driveway and steps leading up to the eastern side of the house as well as the veranda on its north side, Wright hardscaped the lot with urns (now missing), curbs, and concrete-capped rubblestone retaining walls to shape an extensive yard and garden, sculpting the grounds into a gently sloping, multi-tiered space on what had originally been a steeply sloped lot. The basement receives sufficient sunlight from a window on the eastern facade to successfully overwinter tender garden plants in containers.
The open floor plan Wright developed for the Lamp House became a standard in the following years, reused in no fewer than 25 of his later projects, including the Barton House (1903–04) in Buffalo, New York, and adapted by Prairie School architects in numerous other projects. Wright adapted it in a plan he published in 1907, titled "A Fireproof House for $5000
A Fireproof House for $5000
"A Fireproof House for $5000" was an article and house design by Frank Lloyd Wright which was published in the Ladies' Home Journal in April 1907. This was Wright's third and final publication in the journal following "A Home in a Prairie Town" and "A Small House with 'Lots of Room in It'" from...
" which became one of the standard modern residential floor plans of the period up to about 1920.
Further reading
- Holzhueter, John O. “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Designs for Robert Lamp”. Wisconsin Magazine of History, vol. 72, no. 2 (Winter, 1988-1989), pp. 82-125.
- Holzhueter, John O. “Wright's Designs for Robert Lamp”. In Frank Lloyd Wright and Madison: Eight Decades of Artistic and Social Interaction, pp. 13–27. Ed. Paul E. Sprague. Madison: Elvehjem Museum of Art, 1990, ISBN 0932900224
- Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion. University of Chicago Press, 2006, ISBN 0226776212
