Rock Crest/Rock Glen, Mason City, Iowa, Perspective
Date:
c. 1912
Artist:
Marion Mahony Griffin (American, 1871–1961) Walter Burley Griffin (American, 1876–1937)
About this artwork
Walter Burley and Marion Mahony Griffin were exceptional figures in the Prairie School, for they not only designed individual buildings but also planned housing developments, universities, and entire cities. In their partnership (formed in 1911 at the time of their marriage), Walter Burley Griffin was chief designer, while Marion Mahony, one of the nation’s first women to distinguish herself in architecture, contributed to design and produced the spectacular renderings for which the firm was noted. In this exquisite work, she delineated the pair’s major domestic work and the most important planning scheme of the Prairie School: the Iowa housing development Rock Crest–Rock Glen (begun in 1912). The vaguely Japanesque intertwining of single-family dwellings within the eighteen-acre site is a perfect encapsulation of the Prairie School’s emphasis on the harmonious integration of suburban domesticity and a tamed, almost pastoral, nature. Of the sixteen proposed houses, eight were built, four by the Griffins. Just as construction began, the couple won the international competition to plan Canberra, the new capital of Australia; the commission allowed them to bring their aesthetic to an international audience.
Rock Crest/Rock Glen, Mason City, Iowa, Perspective
Place
Mason City (Building address)
Date
Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.
Gift of Marion Mahony Griffin through Eric Nicholls
Reference Number
1988.182
Extended information about this artwork
Van Zanten, David T., ed. 1970. Walter Burley Griffin: Selected Designs. Palos Park, IL: Prairie School Press.
Art Institute of Chicago; edited by John Zukowsky. 1981. Walter Burley Griffin, Marion Mahoney Griffin: Architectural Drawings in the Burnham Library of Architecture. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago, cat. no. 1.
Zukowsky, John, ed. 1987. Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis. Exh. cat. Art Institute of Chicago/Prestel, no. 186; plate no. 49.
Wilson, Richard Guy. 1995. “Prairie School Works in the Department of Architecture at the Art Institute of Chicago.” Museum Studies 21(2): 93-111. Cat. no. 10.
The Art Institute of Chicago. 2000. Treasures from the Art Institute of Chicago, selected by James N. Wood with commentaries by Debra N. Mancoff, 1st edition. Chicago: The Art Institute of Chicago; New York: Distributed by Hudson Hills Press. Reproduced on p. 245.
Zukowsky, John, and Martha Thorne. 2004. Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture. Art Institute of Chicago/Rizzoli, pp. 56-57.
Wood, Debora, ed. 2005. Marion Mahony Griffin: Drawing the Form of Nature. Exh. cat. Mary and Leigh Block Museum of Art, Northwestern University Press, p. 12.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Past Forward: Architecture and Design Collection at the Art Institute,” September 12, 2017 – January 21, 2018.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Walter Burley Griffin, Marion Mahony Griffin: Architectural Drawings in the Burnham Library of Architecture,” Sept. 10, 1981-Jan. 31, 1982, cat. no 1.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Chicago Architecture and Design, 1872-1922: Birth of a Metropolis,” cat. no. 186; plate 49; traveled to Paris, Musée d’Orsay, Oct. 2, 1987–Jan. 4, 1988; Frankfurt am Main, Deutsches Architekturmuseum, Feb. 5-Apr. 25, 1988; and The Art Institute of Chicago, July 16–Sept. 5, 1988.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “The Prairie School: Design Vision for the Midwest,” 1995, cat . no. 10.
The Art Institute of Chicago, “Masterpieces of Chicago Architecture,” Apr. 2004–Sept. 2005, Gallery 24
Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.