“Architect George Howe thought there were three pioneers of American architecture: Louis Sullivan, Frank Lloyd Wright, and William L. Price. Although history has borne out Howe’s observation on Sullivan and Wright, Will Price sill awaits discovery.”

Price, a disciple of Frank Furness who practiced in Philadelphia from 1883 to 1916, established the character of two of the nation’s greatest resorts, Atlantic City and Miami, thus shaping the architecture of the Roaring Twenties. Although his biggest and best-known projects, the Art Deco Traymore Hotel in Atlantic City and the Chicago Freight Terminal, were both destroyed, his Arts and Crafts utopian community in Rose Valley, Pennsylvania and his Garden City community in Arden, Delaware survive to attest to the vigor of his ideas and the leadership he exerted.”

“Price left a legacy of exquisite houses, railroad stations, and commercial structures that were widely emulated and recall the best works of Frank Lloyd Wright and Greene & Greene. In addition, Price was an accomplished writer and furniture designer whose work was regularly featured in Gustav Stickley’s The Craftsman.”

I could not write a better description of William Price’s work than the preceding text, taken from the front flap of George E. Thomas’ book, William L. Price: Arts and Crafts to Modern Design.

To learn more about Rose Valley visit these sites, Rose Valley Borough, Rose Valley Museum and Historical Society, and the House of the Democrat.

Finally, some of what William Price wrote about the House of the Democrat in the November 1911 issue of Gustav Stickley’s Craftsman Magazine.