If you live in Oak Park, Illinois, historic architecture is practically built into your daily routine. Obviously, not every home in the Chicago suburb of 54,000 is representative of the Usonian, Prairie-style vernacular that made Frank Lloyd Wright a household name, but there are approximately 1500 buildings that fit within the boundaries of Oak Park’s Frank Lloyd Wright Historic District—1300 of which are considered “contributing properties” to Oak Park’s Midwestern charm. (Wright and his acolytes are responsible for more than 80 homes within the district.)

As “modern” as these homes might be—as evidenced in their symmetrical façades and “organic” ornamentation, to borrow a term from Louis Sullivan, the so-called father of Modernism who also favored large windows and bays for natural light—their proto-passive designs are not exactly up to 21^st-century standards.

Passive design meets old-home heritage

One such home is a three-story single-family house built in 1902. It was designed by little-known British-born architect William G. Barfield, a devotee of the Prairie style, who had his own Chicago practice until his death in 1935. The house recently underwent a complete interior renovation and has been retrofitted to meet the Phius ZERO REVIVE standard (2021).

The effort was led by Tom Bassett-Dilley Architects (TBDA), an Oak Park–based practice specializing in passive design and zero-energy buildings. “The overall mass, window area, and orientation are passive in nature since the home was built before large mechanical systems were a viable option,” reads TBDA’s project summary, posted mid-construction.

The 3569-sq.-ft. house, while not qualifying as Prairie-style in the strictest sense, does meet the streamlined “modern” look of the period. The hip roof has a low(ish) slope, awnings provide passive shading, and its brick and stucco cladding is both modest and economical—all of which is just as well since the home’s historic designation precludes…