E. A. Cummings Real Estate Office
Date: 1905
City: River Forest, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
Restoration status: Demolished (year unknown)
The E. A. Cummings Real Estate Office was a small commercial building. Its low roof sat just above a tall, broad wall at the front of the structure. The wall’s length and close proximity to the office building distorted the scale of the structure, making it appear larger than it actually was. Signage painted directly onto the expansive planes of the wall promoted the real estate agency that occupied the building. The signage employed a similar typographic idiom to that found in the Larkin building, and it served as both an aesthetic and commercial device. Two large planters framed the entrance to the building and reinforced the structure’s frontal symmetry. Like many of Wright’s residential commissions, a fireplace occupied the center of the office building, separating the business’s public meeting room at the front of the building from a private office at the rear.