Wright’s solo career began in the Chicago suburb of Oak Park.

His reputation grew quickly as he became famous for a new type of house that rejected the ornate, vertical and closed floor plan of the Victorian period in favor of restrained ornament derived from abstractions of nature, a low lying profile that harmonized with the Prairie and a revolutionary open plan whose influence can be seen today in modern residential design.

It was also here that he received his first solo public commission, Unity Temple. Today, Unity Temple remains the sole surviving public building of his Prairie Period.