The Bradley House and the Willits House, also built in 1901 in Highland Park, Illinois and designed by Wright, compete for the title of the first Prairie School residence designed by Wright and built to his specifications.

[3] Harley Bradley had inherited means from his grandfather, a local manufacturer of plowshares and other farm and garden implements.

Tours are available for a fee, and the house's current owner, the nonprofit group Wright in Kankakee,[4] has refitted the stable to serve as a gift shop.

[3] The "Prairie Style" is so named because Wright, the style's pioneer architect, worked with his clients to develop architectural spaces that were inspired by the wide, horizontal landscape and natural plant forms of the tallgrass prairie that surrounded Kankakee.

USA Today commented that the house, "reveals what would become his hallmark: long rows of windows, stained glass, and a low-pitched roofline.