View source for E-Z Polish Factory

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2025}}
{{Short description|Factory building in Chicago, Illinois}}
[[Image:E-Z Polish Factory Chicago.jpg|E-Z Polish Factory|thumb|right]]
The '''E-Z Polish Factory''' (built 1905), the only factory building designed by [[Frank Lloyd Wright]], is located at 3005 West Carroll Avenue in [[Chicago]], [[Illinois]], United States. The E-Z Polish Company made polish for shoes and stoves. The building now serves as practice space for local bands and artists.

The factory was at one point forgotten as a Wright design. In 1939, architectural historian [[Grant Carpenter Manson]] was writing his Harvard doctoral dissertation and followed a clue that the factory was located somewhere along the Galena division of the Chicago and Northwestern Railway. Manson rode back and forth on the line until he located the factory.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/innatureofmateri00hitc|title=In the nature of materials, 1887-1941 : the buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright|last=Hitchcock|first=Henry-Russell|year=1975|orig-year=1942|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0306800195|location=New York|oclc=1364094|url-access=registration}}</ref>

The structure was an exercise in concrete construction technique. It is one of the least decorative designs of Wright's career.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Frank Lloyd Wright field guide : includes all United States and international sites|last=Heinz|first=Thomas A.|date=2005|publisher=Northwestern University Press|others=Wright, Frank Lloyd, 1867-1959.|isbn=0810122448|location=Evanston, Ill.|oclc=61130881}}</ref>

Wright's original design for the factory included  an elaborate scheme for an open court between side wings at the rear. The plans for the court were found at [[Taliesin (studio)|Taliesin]] but were never executed.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/innatureofmateri00hitc|title=In the nature of materials, 1887-1941 : the buildings of Frank Lloyd Wright|last=Hitchcock|first=Henry-Russell|year=1975|orig-year= 1942|publisher=Da Capo Press|isbn=0306800195|location=New York|oclc=1364094|url-access=registration}}</ref>

The company was owned by William E. Martin of [[Oak Park, Illinois|Oak Park]] and [[Darwin D. Martin]] of [[Buffalo, New York|Buffalo]], New York. Wright also designed the [[William E. Martin House]] in 1902.

==See also==
* [[List of Frank Lloyd Wright works]]

==References==
<references />
* Brewer, Gregory M., “Frank Lloyd Wright’s Martin & Martin Building: A Forgotten Landmark Rediscovered,” ''OA+D, the Journal of Organic Architecture and Design'' 12, no. 2 (Summer 2024).
* {{Cite Wright Companion}} (S.114)

==External links==
*[http://www.appraisercitywide.com/content.aspx?filename=CustomPage110.x A site about E-Z Polish Factory]

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{{Frank Lloyd Wright}}

[[Category:Frank Lloyd Wright buildings]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures in Chicago]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings completed in 1905]]
[[Category:Industrial buildings and structures in Illinois]]
[[Category:1905 establishments in Illinois]]