Coonley House - Frank Lloyd Wright — Attraction in Lyons Township

This Frank Lloyd Wright hybrid Prairie/Early Usinion home is beautiful. It was originally known as The Avery Coonley Playhouse. Although Mrs. Queene Feery Coonley commissioned, helped plan and paid for this Playhouse as well as the original Avery Coonley Compound, which sits approximately a block away.

Built for Mrs. Queene Feery Coonley in the early 20th century as a Kindergarten for her and others' children, it was remodeled into a single family dwelling less than 10 years after being built.

Recently the room in back which once contained a small foot pool or fountain for children has been transformed into a bedroom or possible den, the remnants of the fountain looking as if they have been removed. This does make more room for a standard bedroom, but detracts from Mrs. Feery Coonley amd Mr. Wright's original design.

Some of the original iconic stained glass was removed and is displayed at The Art Institute of Chicago, high grade copies taking their place in the home. Some of the original glass work still exists in the house amd the children's kitchen, complete with ice cream and soda equipment still exist from the original build as does much of the original cabinets. I hope whoever buys this masterpiece keeps the original kitchen the way Mr. Wright built it.

The garages need some attention, one attached and one free standing. I believe one of these was once used as a studio. It would be wonderful if this is brought back to life as it was.

The Avery Coonley Playhouse is not open to the public, but is, at the time of this...

I grew up in Riverside, about a mile away from the Coonly house, over in Brookfield. My father, a devout follower of Frank Lloyd Wright, would take walks with me and mom and we would occasionally walk past the Coonly house. Architecture was his passion, it was the reason he came to Chicago in his youth. I have fond memories of dad telling me all about the famous architects of his day. That was back in the 60s. Today, I live in Tokyo. My wife and I visited today the Tokyo Metropolitan Teien Art Museum, the museum building itself the former residence of Prince Asaka and an excellent example of the Art Deco movement that came to Japan in the 20s. At the end of the tour, they exhibited other examples of the Art Deco style and the Coonly house was one of...

We drive by this marvel all the time but have never been inside, not sure if there are tours but it's been occasionally for sale so next time it's on the market maybe a realtor can take us through. It's an enormous property near the river. It makes us all a bit melancholy to think that it's cast concrete artifacts and structural flaws due to the soft soils of the area may render it unable to restore or inhabit someday. It's due for a documentary style archive so who's ready to reach out...