Mrs. A. W. Gridley House
Date: 1906
Address: 605 North Batavia Road, Batavia, Illinois
City: Batavia, Illinois
Accessibility: Private
Category: Residential
The Gridley house is a large residence set back from the street on a sprawling lot in Batavia, Illinois. The crisp geometry of the structure and its surrounding parapets, as well as its pale stucco finish, make for a striking contrast to the verdant landscape that surrounds it. The ground floor rooms are arranged along two perpendicular axes that intersect at a centrally located fireplace. Lightly stained wood trim and shallow hipped roofs emphasize the horizontality of the structure. In contrast to many of Wright’s Prairie residences, the house features conventional casement windows with clear square panes and wood mullions in place of decorative leaded glass windows. The light-colored wood mullions create a bold pattern of squares that reinforce the overriding sense of geometry that defines the building.