Prairie School architecture, also Prairie and Prairie Style, is a style championed as the first uniquely American architectural style, most notably by Frank Lloyd Wright. Influenced by both Arts and Crafts and early Modern ideals, Prairie School designs are characterized by their horizontality, cantilevers, and earth-toned materials.
Prairie School architecture traces its roots to Frank Lloyd Wright, who was employed by Louis Sullivan in his early career. He took on house commissions without his employer's knowledge, which used the aesthetics of popular residential styles at the time, simultaneously employing early Wrightian touches such as open floor plans and overhanging roofs. After Wright was fired by Sullivan in 1893, he continued to design houses in Chicago. His first independent commission, the Winslow House, may be considered the first Prairie School design, though it still owes a great debt to the orthodox contemporary domestic architecture. The first mature Prairie School houses were designed in 1901--the Thomas House and Willits House.
By the mid-1900s, the Prairie School became more widely practiced by those influenced by Wright. Although it was never a prevailing or even popular style of the time, it suited the Midwestern landscape and was adaptable to take the characteristics of other styles.
Prairie School architecture is characterized by its horizontality, which informs many other aspects of the style. Buildings are low-slung and rectilinear, which is emphasized by cantilevers and widely overhanging, low-pitched roofs. They often have little to no ornament, and what exists is usually geometric. Prairie School designs are perceived to be in harmony with nature due to their relationship to their sites. Materials are often earth-toned, such as wood or brick, and choices such as the longer Roman brick further emphasize the horizontal nature of these designs. Inside, floor plans are typically very open, with large rooms and windows.
Prairie School architecture became less popular after the 1920s, when other styles such as Colonial Revival became fashionable and Wright shifted to his Usonian style. Some Modern and contemporary designs are influenced by it today.