Join us for “Anti-domestic: An Alternative Architectural History of Gustav Stickley,” a six-part online lecture series!

Led by Dr. Willa Granger, our new Curator of Education and Collections, this series will consider the broader architectural history of Gustav Stickley, exploring the diverse spaces and places that facilitated his entrepreneurship. We will examine and hypothesize about how Stickley existed in, reacted to, and shaped buildings ranging from the furniture shop at Auburn State Prison to his factory in Syracuse and his tall building in Manhattan, down to the very infrastructure—train networks, lumberyards, and beyond—that enabled the Craftsman vision. In telling this alternative architectural history, we can better understand the man, positioning him less exclusively as a visionary Arts and Crafts crusader and more as a businessman and property owner navigating the complex and contradictory terrain of Progressive-era America.

Lectures may be purchased individually or as a complete series. Click here for the full course description.

Lecture 6
The Craftsman House Migrates: Workaday Builders, Plan Book Makers, and the Craftsman Legacy

Sat., November 21, 2026, at 1:00 P.M. EST

In many ways, Stickley was the original “influencer.” Not only did his furniture become name-brand in the homes of middle-class Americans, but his intangible ideas about the value of good design—many of them ghostwritten by anonymous writers—were flung out across the country through the pages of The Craftsman magazine and his Craftsman Homes book. This lecture moves beyond Stickley to examine how his notions about the modern home were taken up, remixed, and hybridized in the hands of lesser-known builders and designers. While Stickley was not the sole originator of these ideas, he was a prominent and expansive voice in the call for simplified, open floor plans; harmonious and unified interior design; modern labor-saving technologies; and an integration between home and environment. We will turn specifically to the work of Georgia-based plan-book maker Leila Ross Wilburn, a little-known businesswoman who availed herself of the era’s gendered notions of “women’s work” within the domestic sphere to brand and sell her own version of the Craftsman-style bungalow.

A La Carte
Member Price: $30 / session
Non-Member Price: $35 / session

Full Course
Member Price: All 6 sessions for $150 (one session free)
Non-Member Price: All 6 sessions for $210

Registration is required. Once registered and paid, you will receive an email prior to each session with a link to join.

Do you have a scheduling conflict for the live session? You can still enjoy the program. Register and we’ll send you the recording! All paid attendees will be emailed a private link to the session recording when it is available, typically 6-7 days after the live program.

Missed us? You can also register retroactively. If you register for a session that has passed, you’ll receive access to the recording when it is ready.

Haven’t tried a session yet? Each session is planned as a “stand-alone” lecture, so you can take them all or attend the topics that interest you most.