Twenty Pictures of the Robie House

2-January 2010.

All photographs © 2010 Michael Beggs. I put these online for the enjoyment of friends, family, and the occasional stranger because there are surprisingly few good photographs of the Robie House. Please do not use them without my permission, and I mean this!

Foyer/Entrance Area, Robie House, Ground Floor

Living Space, Looking East to Fireplace and Dining Area, Robie House, 1st Floor.

Detail of Windows and Lights in Living/Dining Area, 1st Floor.

Soffit Light & Screen, Living/Dining Space, Robie House. 1st Floor.

Projections of the Art-Glass Windows onto the Carpet. Living/Dining Space, Looking West. 1st Floor.

South Art-Glass Doors, Robie House, 1st Floor Sitting/Dining Space.

Art-Glass Door and Window with Wright-Designed Table, Robie House, 1st Floor.

Child’s Bedroom Closet with Ventilation Window, 2nd Floor, Robie House.

The East Child’s Bedroom, Robie House, 2nd Floor.

Stairway from First to Second Floor, Robie House.

Windows in Children’s Bathroom. Robie House, 2nd Floor.

Second Floor Hallway Looking out of West Child’s Bedroom Through Stairwell to Hallway, Children’s Bathroom.

SW Corner of Robie House, Exterior.

The South and East Façades of the Robie House with Gate to Courtyard and Garage.

The West Facade of the Robie House, with the Main Entrance.

Built-in Cabinet in the Closet area of the Master Bedroom, Robie House, 2nd Floor.

Built-in Drawers Below the South Windows of the Master Bedroom, Robie House, 2nd Floor.

South and West Windows in the Master Bedroom, Robie House, 2nd Floor.

Looking West in the Sitting Room Space, Robie House, 1st Floor.

I think part of the reason there are so few good photographs of the house is that many of the spaces are difficult to photograph well, if at all. As you can see, I used a wide-angle lens to capture much of this. If I had an SLR with a removable lens, I might have chosen a tighter lens for less distortion, but really one needs a view camera to do good architectural photography anyways, so I doubt it would have helped much. The most unfortunate thing about lens distortion is that the house is built on the use of the right angle (I’m sure someone could come up with a halfway-decent pun on right-Wright), and so the elements that look so straight in the house are a bit curvy in my photographs. As I’m learning at the Art Institute, Chicago has a great history of Architectural Photographers that includes C. D. Arnold, John Szarkowsky, Aaron Siskind, Richard Nickel, and Bob Thall. It’s a shame that this house hasn’t gotten a going-over from a particularly talented Architectural Photographer. Maybe they’re waiting to finish the restoration before setting someone loose. In any case, it deserves a good photographer.