join us for our annual fundraiser!
Join us on Saturday, September 12th for our annual fundraiser, Bourbon, Brisket & Blues: Preserving the Wright House, and help us raise needed funds for the continued preservation of the Laurent House, Frank Lloyd Wright’s architectural masterpiece! The evening will include:
Brisket with sides from Mission Barbeque
Tastings by Artale of Bourbon and Other Spirits
BMR4 Blues Machine returns for a 4th year to provide live blues music
Cash bar, appetizers, and desserts by BD4 (one complimentary drink per person)
Silent Auction (amazing selection of unique offerings!)
Mini Tours of the Laurent House
Commemorative Glass
Silent Auction Items
- Tour Packages for Unique Experiences at FLW’s Fallingwater, Martin House, Taliesin, Kraus House, and Cedar Rock
- A Two-Night Stay at FLW’s Still Bend
- Oak Park Walking Tour
- Private Dinner for Six in the Laurent House
- Rockford Symphony Orchestra Tickets
- Lake Geneva Cruise & Black Pointe Estate Tour
- Handcrafted Usubi Lamp by FLW Artisan & Master Craftsman Jonathan Leck
- Plus Artwork, FLW Collectibles, Dinner Packages and More!
Parking and shuttle from Spring Creek United Church of Christ, 4500 Spring Creek Rd, Rockford, IL (also walking distance from the Laurent House). Please contact our office at 815.877.2952 if you have accessibility needs and we will make accommodations for your parking and arrival.
Note: This is our annual fundraiser and, as such, tickets are non-refundable. Please dress for the weather.
thank you to our sponsors!
pettit chapel & laurent house
Joint tour
Saturday, october 10
The Laurent House is pleased to offer a unique combined tour of two Frank Lloyd Wright-designed buildings from two distinct periods of the architect’s career: the 1907 Prairie-style Pettit Memorial Chapel in Belvidere and the nearby Usonian-style Laurent House in Rockford, designed in 1949. Visitors will be able to see and appreciate the change and continuity in Wright’s work from the height of the Prairie Style to the final decade of his career more than forty years later.
The approximately two-hour tour will begin at the Pettit Chapel, 1121 N. Main Street in Belvidere. Guests will then provide their own transportation to the Laurent House Visitor Center for a tour of the Laurent House. The drive from the Pettit Chapel to the Laurent House takes about 20 minutes.
The tour will be led by architect Andrew Wanek, ALA, a member of the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy who serves on the Board of Directors of the Laurent House.
Saturday, October 10th
Time: 1:00 p.m.
Cost: $45 per person
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The ghost of mamah borthwick october 17th
Mark your calendars as the Laurent House and Pettit Chapel – both designed by famed-architect Frank Lloyd Wright – present Ellie Carlson as the ghost of Mamah Bouton Borthwick, the great love of Frank Lloyd Wright’s life. Mamah, for whom Taliesin was built, was brutally murdered, along with her children, at Taliesin in 1914. Ms. Carlson presents Mamah as a ghost at the moment of her death to tell her story of her life with Frank Lloyd Wright.
This presentation will be held at the Pettit Chapel in the Belvidere Cemetery and will be followed by an optional tour of the Laurent House in Rockford (20 minutes from the chapel).
The presentation takes place on Saturday, October 17th.