1903 - Walter Burley Griffin completes the William H. Emery Jr. House

Griffin’s first residential commission, the William H. Emery Jr. House was completed in 1903 at 281 South Arlington Avenue for his friend from school, William H. Emery Jr. Emery’s father, William H. Emery Sr., owned the Seth Wadhams farm in Elmhurst, was president of the Elmhurst school board and Golf Club, and played a prominent role in bringing electricity and water supply to Elmhurst in the 1880s and 90s. (F. B. Henderson bought the land on which his Frank Lloyd Wright House was built from William H. Emery Sr.) During this time, Griffin was working for Frank Lloyd Wright in his famous Oak Park Home and Studio. The house is still in Elmhurst today and is listed for $1,750,000.