Family Roots and Architecture

I guess I can partly blame my DNA for my passion for historical buildings. My grandfather and my brother are both architects, and my dad might also have practiced that profession if he had not grown up during the Great Depression. My grandfather, Robert E. Seyfarth, worked mostly in the Chicago area for more than 50 years between 1898 and 1950. The photo of the red door at one of his houses is from a website where you can see his designs at http://www.Robertseyfartharchitect.com. Of course I have a bias, but I think his home designs are very graceful. My grandfather got his start working for the architect, George Maher, and you can clearly see Maher's influence in grand dad's earliest designs. Maher was on the cutting edge of Prairie Style architecture. There is a new Maher website at http://www.georgemaher.com. My brother tells me that some of Maher's furniture and interior finishes are very "hot" on the collectible market right now. I wish I had received some of my family's artistic genes; but since I did not, I spend a lot of time and energy studying interesting architecture and analyzing how the designs and materials reflect the values and technologies of their times. I never knew my grandfather--he died before I was born, but I "know" him through his buildings, a lovely legacy he left for me and everyone else.