Davenport House
Chicago, Ill.

Restoration of the Davenport House, built in 1901 and considered to be Frank Lloyd Wright’s first Prairie Style house in Chicago, is scheduled to be finished this year. Thornton Tomasetti completed structural evaluation of this two-story house and provided repair recommendations and design. A jacking procedure was designed to gradually raise the second floor to repair and reinforce sagging floor joists, which required the removal and replacement of the first floor plaster ceiling, faux beams and diagonal bracing. The lower cantilevered roof eaves were restored, and roof and wall framing was reinforced.