Edwardsville's first modern house

In recognition of National Historic Preservation Month, Edwardsville’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) will showcase some of Edwardsville’s historic buildings in a series of articles during the month of May. HPC encourages owners of historic buildings to donate copies of photos and historical information to HPC and/or the Madison County Historical Museum so future generations will have access to these valuable research materials.

The Griffin House

705 St. Louis St.

It was unlike any house ever built in Edwardsville. The home at 705 St. Louis Street, built for Ralph and Julia Griffin in 1909-1910, was designed by Ralph’s brother, Walter Burley Griffin. Architect Griffin worked in Frank Lloyd Wright’s Oak Park studio for five years beginning in 1901. Although he was a certified architect and college graduate, Wright treated him as a draftsman. And today, many architectural historians believe that Wright took credit for a number of innovations that were designed by Griffin.

This perfectly symmetrical Prairie style house looks more contemporary than its Victorian, Georgian and Colonial neighbors on St. Louis Street, but is in fact older than many of them. Prairie style homes had been in existence for more than 10 years when the Griffin house was built, but were still new to this area.

Many elements of the Edwardsville Griffin house would become signature elements of a Griffin designed home. These included upturned gables, the symmetrical placement of windows and doorways, a split level pattern of rooms flowing from one to another and the incorporation of landscape design to compliment the building.

The marriage of Julia West Hadley and Ralph Dustin Griffin in 1903 was the society event of the season in Edwardsville. They were married in the bride’s home, a gracious mansion on St. Louis Street across the road from where she and her husband would eventually build their new home. Today we know her childhood home as "Hadley House." It has been owned by the school district since 1954. Her grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. E. M. West, lived across the street on the lot east of her future home in a house that was later used as a funeral home. They called it the marriage triangle; three homes, owned by three generations of the same family, located in a triangular pattern across St. Louis Street.

A lot on the north side of St. Louis Street, approximately 100 feet wide, was purchased from Julia’s mother for 3,000ドル in late July of 1909 after plans for the house were completed by Walter Burley Griffin. The house would cost 7,000ドル.

Julia Hadley Griffin was an accomplished young woman who had spent a season abroad and was a graduate of Monticello Seminary. It was reported that she had a "warm, sympathetic nature that endeared her to all who became her acquaintance."

Ralph Griffin was reared in an affluent family in a suburb of Chicago. Although he had business interests in both Chicago and St. Louis, the couple settled in Edwardsville where he became an active member of the community. He was elected to the school board, promoted the Boy Scout organization, and was appointed to a committee to preserve Cahokia Mounds.

Early in their marriage, the couple shared her mother’s home and then rented a house on Kansas Street. But as the family grew, it soon became clear that they needed their own home. By the time their house at 705 St. Louis Street was ready for them, they already had 6 year-old Flavia and 3-year-old Dustin in the household. These children were followed in the next few years by Judith and W. L. Hadley (William Lester Hadley), named for Julia’s father.

Ralph and Julia led an active life that included travel to northern climates in the hottest months of summer, and participation in the St. Louis social season, including Veiled Prophet Balls. Their children attended Principia School in St. Louis and they were leaders in the local Christian Science Church. Julia was a member of the Monday Club, the Woman’s Chapter House, organized card parties with friends and as an alumna of Monticello Seminary was active in fundraising for the school.

In 1920 Ralph’s business took the family to the state of Idaho. Since they would be gone for some time, the house on St. Louis Street was sold to Mrs. Constance McKinnie, a widow. The price, staggering for that era, was 12,000ドル.

When the Griffins returned to the mid-west after a year in Idaho, they purchased a home in St. Louis where Ralph continued his career as a business executive, first for a large tannery, and later in positions that were connected with banking and finance. Ralph died in 1956 and Julia eight years later in 1964. They are buried at Woodlawn Cemetery on St. Louis Street near the others in Julia’s family who had lived in the houses of the marriage triangle.

The families that have owned and occupied the Griffin house in the years since Ralph and Julia have been good caretakers, preserving not only the architectural features of the home, but also the landscape design envisioned more than a hundred years ago by Walter Burley Griffin.

Long recognized as one of the best examples of architectural designs in the State of Illinois, the Ralph Griffin house was featured in a 1996 documentary for PBS, Walter Burley Griffin: In His Own Right. Photos of the interior of the house, a history of Griffin’s fascinating career, and more can be found at http://www.pbs.org/wbgriffin/rgriffin.htm.

Information for this article was obtained from resources at the Madison County Historical Society’s Archival Library, the Madison County Courthouse and the Edwardsville Public Library, including a book, Walter Burley Griffin in America by Mati Maldre and Paul Kruty. If you have questions about this article, contact Cindy Reinhardt at 656-1294 or cynreinhardt@yahoo.com.