Residence for Daniel and Julia Richardson

Silsbee received one of his more peculiar looking commissions in 1899.  It is his second known project in the Chicago suburb of Riverside and was built for grain merchant Daniel Richardson as a wedding gift for his daughter, Harriet and son in law, Seymour Edgerton. The family affectionately referred to the home as "Marigold Cottage".

Daniel Richardson and his wife Julia lived nearby in a Classical Revival style home called "The Daffodils".  The home he commissioned for his daughter is a stark contrast in size and character. It is relatively modest and is a unique combination of English Gothic, Classical Revival, and Prairie Style elements.  At the time of this home's construction Silsbee's former employees Frank Lloyd Wright and George Maher had already completed significant homes that are commonly considered masterpieces and precursors to their own mature Prairie Style Work. Wright completed the Winslow Home in 1893 and design on Maher's Pleasant Home was completed in 1897. Silsbee's foray into this seemingly "modern" style of architecture, even if it was not considered by him to be as such, was a departure from these antecedents. The L-shaped plan makes for a picturesque quality that is a counterpoint to the stark symmetry of the Winsow Home and Pleasant Home. Silsbee's treatment of the walls is absent of the stark plain surfaces and elements of classicism as well. Instead, it is composed of flush red brick with rough-cut stone accents and a second floor covered with a stucco surface. The use of these contrasting materials, with the emphatic trim and wide overhanging roof give the home a monumental appearance but also a distinctly horizontal character.  This composition and appearance became a common motif in later homes associated with the Prairie School.      

While it has the appearance of Prairie School structures, the home can also be seen as a continuation of Silsbee's personal development of suburban home design. It bears a strong resemblance to some of Silsbee's earlier work on homes in Edgewater. In addition to the stucco over brick composition, another notable feature is the open piazza that stretches across the front of the home. The patio was originally designed to be covered with a large retractable awning to provide shade in warmer weather.  This allowed adjacent rooms to have direct access to natural light and ventilation from the outdoors. In fact, all of the major living spaces have access to natural light on at least three sides. This piazza feature has already been remarked about on this blog in Silsbee's design for a home for his daughter and for a speculative home for developer Harvey Hurd. Another element that was likely designed by Silsbee are the urns that flank the driveway entry.  It is known that he designed details like this on many other homes but very few of them exist.     

  

Closer inspection of details of the home indicates the variety of stylistic influences. Simple leaded glass traced with overlapping circular geometries are most common in the architect's Classical Revival structures. Cushion or Byzantine style capitols top small fluted columns and layers of classical molding and dentils frame the wide eaves.  The same play of styles occurs on the interior with Tudor half-timbering and a spectacular inglenook with round-molded brick are the backdrop for the re-used classical sconces and Moorish architectural elements. 

The originality and variety of detail seen in the project are not without their aesthetic problems.  Some elements of the home, like the roof over the front entry and the resolution of brickwork at the front of the piazza appear somewhat unresolved, as if tacked on later. Also, one of Silsbee's favorite details, the use of an accent material as quoins at the corners of the building seems a bit small in scale when compared with the monumental composition of the overall structure.  That said, the home can still be seen as a great experiment with style in architecture and an original synthesis of somewhat disparate elements.