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Gwendolyn Washington, Hyde Park
When our questioner Gwendolyn was growing up in the Francis Apartments at 43rd Street and Forrestville Avenue in what is today Bronzeville, she had no idea it was designed by one of the world’s most famous architects. And it’s easy to see why.
It looked nothing like the low-slung geometric Prairie Style that Wright is best known for, nor his other famous buildings like Unity Temple in Oak Park or Fallingwater in Pennsylvania.
That’s because the Francis Apartments were designed in 1895, early in Wright’s career when his style was still heavily indebted to his onetime boss and mentor Louis Sullivan.