Layover In Chicago Is The Wright Time

Sun., Oct. 20, 1996

Janet Piorko New York Times

Q. At the end of this month on a trip via United Airlines from San Antonio to Baltimore, we have a four-hour layover actually, 3 hours 40 minutes in Chicago.

Is it possible either to go to downtown Chicago to view its architecture or to see a nearby Frank Lloyd Wright structure? We are scheduled to land at 10:20 a.m. on a weekday, with our next flight departing at 2.

A. If you are interested in Wright, it makes sense to head for Oak Park, which is nine miles west of downtown, between O’Hare and the center of Chicago. The architect lived there from 1889 to 1909 and completed a quarter of his life’s work there, according to Angela Fitzsimmons, a spokeswoman for the Frank Lloyd Wright Home and Studio in Oak Park.

As for the timing, according to Richard Martin, a United spokesman, you need to check in an hour before your second flight. That puts your check-in time at 1 p.m., the balance of your layover at 2 hours 40 minutes.

If traffic is light, you can make it by taxi to Oak Park in about 25 minutes. (Rush-hour delays can double that time.) The fare is $15 to $20. There is also train service, but it would require changing in Chicago and take longer.

There are guided interior tours of the Wright Home and Studio, 951 Chicago Avenue; (708) 848-1976. They last about 45 minutes and begin at 11, 1 and 3 daily; admission $6. With luck, you should be able to catch the 11 a.m. tour.

The most spectacular rooms, according to Fitzsimmons, are the barrel-vaulted playroom and the two-story drafting room in Wright’s studio.

After the house tour, if time allows you can pick up a map ($2.50) of some 30 Wright designs in Oak Park and nearby River Forest from the Gingko Tree Bookshop at the site. Within the immediate area of about four square blocks, you can see 10 houses Wright designed (the exteriors only, since they are all privately owned).

An audiocassette tour, also available from the bookshop, lasts 90 minutes, probably more time than you will have, but if you miss the house tour this could be a substitute.

You may also be able to see Wright’s concrete Unity Temple, 875 Lake Street, Oak Park, (708) 383-8873, which is ordinarily open only from 1 to 4 p.m. daily; $3 admission on weekdays, $5 on weekends, when there is a guided tour.

Lisa Dodge, the director of tourism for the Temple’s Restoration Foundation, said if you call first you might be able to get in earlier. It is three blocks south of Wright’s home.

A few more tips from Dodge: Be sure the taxi driver understands you want to go to Oak Park, not Oak Brook; the fare should be straight time on the meter, and the driver should take River Road.

If you prefer a look at skyscrapers, you should be able to make it by taxi downtown and back in about 35 minutes each way; the fare is about $25. Rush hour can add 15 minutes or more to travel time each way. There is also an elevated train connecting the airport with downtown in about 40 minutes.

The tours of the city offered by the Chicago Architectural Foundation are offered most frequently on weekends and are generally longer than you have time for. You might consider a boat tour; most are 90 minutes, but Shoreline Sightseeing, (312) 222-9328, has 30-minute tours on Lake Michigan, with taped narration, that offer a panorama of the skyline. The cost is $7. The company plans to operate on weekends in October.

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