Robert P. Parker House (1892) 1019 Chicago Avenue Designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. (This is a private residence and does not offer tours.)

The triple of houses on Chicago Avenue, the so-called the Bootleg Houses just west of Wright's Home & Studio, stand out for their transitional nature from the rest of Wright's later designs. In spite of their small size and inexpensive detailing, the Bootleg Houses reveal insights into Wright's development as an architect. Their irregular composition, consisting of octagonal bays joined to a rectangular core, the whole covered by high-pitched roofs with polygonal dormers, reflect the style of design of Wright's first teacher, Joseph Silsbee. The influence of Louis Sullivan and his philosophy of "geometric simplification" is seen in their taut design (contrasted with the more ample rounded forms of true Queen Anne designs so popular at that time.)