Just adding on to anthropod's good writeup above.
The Robie House is the triumph of Frank Lloyd Wright's Prairie Style architecture. Construction on the residence began in 1908 and was finished the following year. It is a three-story, Roman brick house and unlike many Midwest homes, it does not have a basement. The bedrooms are on the 3rd floor. On the 1st (Ground) floor are the children's playroom, billiards room, garage, and entrance. The 2nd (Main) floor houses the dining room, kitchen, guestroom, and servant's quarters.
Like all of Wright's works, the Robie House adheres to his ideas of "organic architecture" by using a grid system and cantilevers. The west veranda is covered by a 10 foot long cantilever and looks seemingly unsupported. The overhanging parts of the home were design in such away that the art glass of the house barely hits the 3rd floor living quarters. The living and dining spaces are also aligned with one another, an example of unity in Wright's work. The Robie House also shares a trait found in all Prairie style buildings, the horizontal, raked mortar between the bricks that give the structure a sweeping feeling (anthropod's writeup explains this pretty well)
Early on, the local neighborhood dubbed the Robie House, "The Battleship," it is even believed that Wright had steel brought in from a Navy ship that was about to be scrapped to use in construction. The man who had the structure commissioned, Frederick C. Robie, only lived in the house for 2 years. The house is currently owned by the University of Chicago and is availible for tours.
Fredrick C. Robie Residence
5757 Woodlawn Ave.
Chicago, IL 60639
Sources
Storrer, William Allin. The Frank Lloyd Wright Companion.