Prairie School

Uncommon card · No. 140906

Prairie School is a late 19th and early 20th-century architectural style, most commonly seen in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, ribbon windows, integration with the landscape, and solid construction and craftsmanship. It reflects discipline in the use of ornament, which was often inspired by organic growth and seen carved into wood, stenciled on plaster, in colored glass, veined marble, and prints or paintings with a general prevalence of earthy, autumnal colors. Spaciousness and continuous horizontal lines were thought to evoke and relate to the wide, flat, treeless expanses of America's native prairie landscape, and decoration often depicted prairie wildlife, sometimes with indigenous materials contributing to a sense of the building belonging to the landscape. The Prairie School sought to develop a distinct North American architectural style, distinguishing it from historical revivals that...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Teemu08, CC BY-SA 3.0