Looking back, it is clear that from the earliest days of his childhood, John Van Bergen was destined to become a successful and accomplished architect. But here in Oak Park, the village where his family settled in the 1860's and where he was born, his history is not well known.

In this town of architecture and architects; among all the truths and legends of the most famous American architect, Frank Lloyd Wright, we have almost overlooked the creative life of one of our own native sons. Yet, many examples John Van Bergen's early architecture are scattered throughout Oak Park and its sister communities, River Forest and Maywood.

Born in Oak Park in 1885, John Van Bergen was the second of four children - three boys and one girl. Even as a young child, John became a favorite of both his parents, his grandparents, and most of his aunts and uncles. He was a bright and energetic boy and was indulged by all of them because of his endearing personality. Everyone also seemed to recognize that he had an exceptional talent.

John's parents, William Frederick (everyone called him by his middle nickname, Fred) and Ella (Wood) Van Bergen raised young Will, John, Frank and Jessie in a moderately religious and strong moral environment. Just like today, Oak Park in the late 19th Century was a perfect place where a family could be actively involved in the community, the church and a variety of other social organizations.

Much of Oak Park was still open land or "prairie" in the 1880's and 1890's. It was a great playground for young kids who liked to explore, in a still almost rural environment. Oak Park was also the perfect place to grow up if a child had any interest in building construction. In the 1890's, residential, school and church construction was booming all over the Oak Park area. John Van Bergen grew up surrounded by building construction sites. His uncles, Frank and Harry Wood, were realtors, builders and residential developers. They built modest homes all over Oak Park and subdivisions in Maywood. His aunts married brothers, Frank and Charles Ballard, who were also realtors and builders.

As a boy, when John wasn't busy watching the construction of a new homes in the neighborhood, he was busy putting up all kinds of structures in his family's own back yard. His parents must have been very patient because his partially completed projects littered 632 N. Scoville (now 532 Fair Oaks). Van Bergen described later on: "...articles abounded in great confusion all around the place -- homes in trees, houses underground, houses in the old barn and houses above ground - not too well hidden by trees and bushes."

John also grew up around nature. To the north of the area where they lived, it was still open prairie. Then there was the DesPlaines River valley to the west with its thick woods and plenty of wildlife. His mother was an avid gardener and his father always had a love of wild nature. This was probably nurtured in his father's own childhood with his boyhood friend, who would later become the famous naturalist, John Muir. John Van Bergen's love and respect for nature, along with his religious upbringing, had much to do with John's humility. He always had respect for others and had deep respect for the natural environment.

John's familiarity with building construction and his love of nature were only the beginning. They were the foundations on which he would build a career that would carry him through the rest of his life. As John grew into his teens the next strong influences that came into his life were two great architects, Walter Burley Griffin, and Frank Lloyd Wright.

Though Griffin was the first to offer practical experience to Van Bergen, there was a strong, earlier influence. Frank Wright (as he was known to friends) would have a profound impact on the young teenage John Van Bergen. In the early 1890's Wright, who had then recently come from Wisconsin, was already familiar to Van Bergen; their mothers became good friends. Frank's sister, Maginel had been John's third grade teacher at Ridgeland (now Beye) School. John also knew, and was very fond of, Wright's wife, Catherine. (Could there have been a boyhood crush?)

The Van Bergen home was one of the first in the Fair Oaks neighborhood. Other houses being built were not extraordinary until, on his own street, John saw two new houses going up that were like none that he had seen before. First the Furbeck house in 1897 and then the Fricke house in 1901. Both were designed by Wright.

From his windows and from his own backyard, John watched the construction, right next door, of the Fricke house. He saw it sprout from the foundations up to the deep overhanging eaves and the massive chimney. With its balconies, new patterns of leaded glass, complex geometric forms, and unusual floor plans, John must have been mesmerized. He would also have met the flamboyant architect at the building site on many occasions. These buildings surely had a lasting impact on John at this impressionable time in his life.

Walter Burley Griffin's father and John's father were close friends for many years. Mr. Griffin mentioned that his son needed some help in his architectural office. After working at a few construction jobs, John wanted to learn to design buildings himself. Here was an opportunity and in1907, Walter Griffin became John's first teacher of architecture.

As Van Bergen would later write to historian, H. Allen Brooks; "I went to work for Walter Griffin for six dollars per week. I think that is more than I was worth. [Griffin] was not only a skillfully trained architect, but also a great teacher for me...He had no end of patience for a very poor draftsman...The training I had with Walter couldn't have been better as I was the only one in his office and I had to do something of everything. Walter took great pains in explaining things to me - pains that no other architect ever took."

After working with Griffin and attending classes at Chicago Technical College, Van Bergen went to work for a while in the busy office of E. E. Roberts. Roberts had the busiest architectural practice in Oak Park. Then an opportunity presented itself to work in the studio of Frank Lloyd Wright. John's and Frank's mothers may have contrived this arrangement; Wright was having a difficult time in his personal life, mostly as a result of an affair with a client's wife, Mamah Cheney. He was also having trouble keeping help in his studio. When Van Bergen first arrived in 1909, there were a few other draftsmen left. Things were not going well.

Wright eventually ran off to Europe with Mrs. Cheney, after collecting his fees in advance. Owners with houses awaiting completion were very upset. Van Bergen and Isabel Roberts, Wright's secretary, were the only ones left in the office to complete the work already underway. With the boss away, they had to deal with angry clients and contractors on their own for several months. They never received their last few months pay from Wright and were the last to work in his studio in Oak Park. After this, Wright's Oak Park studio was closed forever. Despite, or because of, the great difficulties, Van Bergen remembered that he "...learned a lot during those trying weeks".

In 1911, when Van Bergen started a busy architectural practice of his own, he remembered his experiences with Griffin and with Wright. His professional experiences with Wright taught him many important lessons. With Griffin, he learned the nuts-and-bolts of running a practice and how to work with colleagues, clients and contractors. Both of them inspired him aesthetically.

Van Bergen went on to have a very successful and prolific career. Many of his buildings grace the North Shore and Highland Park, Illinois where he moved after World War I. Later he worked in Lake Zurich and Barrington before retiring to Santa Barbara, California. Even after retirement, he was creating landmark designs in California until his death in 1969.

As Wright's and Griffin's architecture reflects their nature, Van Bergen's nature is also strongly reflected in his own work. Because of his upbringing, John Van Bergen was precocious and had strong desires, but also great humility. This nature caused him to express himself through his work in beautiful, but subtle and natural ways. His buildings do not forcefully draw attention to themselves. They blend themselves, very skillfully and successfully, with the environment that surrounds them. The buildings have a serious yet casual demeanor that reflect not only the seriousness of the architect, but also his unpretentious personality.

When John Van Bergen expressed himself, in everyday life or in his work, he was always subtle. There is great strength and great beauty in his kind of subtlety, but its is of a kind that is all too easy to overlook. However, his work is not overlooked by all. Most of John Van Bergen's architecture is still standing and in good condition. These buildings are still cherished by their current owners, and seldom change hands. John Van Bergen would have been pleased by that.