At age 22, FLW was specially trained, working at the equivalent of a frontier AI lab (the most important architect in Chicago) and in the most booming city at the time (Chicago, especially where construction was concerned- due to the Great Fire rebound)

He's not a random, there are a lot of factors working for him

The house you see in the photos is the result of years of additions and expansions, funded by his success as a world-class architect.

The original construction was much more modest in size.

22 year olds lucky or gifted enough to be able to borrow 10x the national average earnings from a boss paying them a high enough salary to expect repayment within five years would to be able to think about buying a small house in an outer suburb of most cities today if that was their priority. Especially if they took on extra contract work.

Obviously most 22 year olds in 1890 didn't earn a few times the national average salary. At the beginning of the twentieth century 81% of households were rented, and most of those were not nearly as nice as Frank Lloyd Wright's first home, which was not nearly as nice as it is today after decades of extensions.

It kinda seems like Sullivan being shrewd. Sullivan probably saw the value in one of his junior architects going through the whole process of building a house for himself. It'd give Wright valuable experience. Mistakes could happen to his own property rather than a client's. Having such a contract may limit the chances that Wright would leave the employer. Wrights attitude towards Sullivan would be more positive if Wright saw him as a patron.

N = 1 though.

> With money borrowed from his boss

Genius in field works for wealthy man in field, gets special treatment at a young age. News at 11.

I agree and feel same. Doubly so since after 100+ years it's now more expensive and difficult to build a custom home? Seems off.