The West Side’s only single-family home designed by famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright is due for a multimillion-dollar refresh under new ownership after spending years in disrepair. The J.J. Walser House, built in 1903 in Wright’s signature Prairie Style, became a city landmark in 1984.

Restoration Plans

West Side nonprofit Austin Coming Together announced that it purchased the J.J. Walser House at 42 N. Central Ave. The nonprofit is now planning to undertake restoration efforts expected to cost millions. “The J.J. Walser House is part of Austin’s story, and we believe its next chapter should be shaped by the people who call this community home,” Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together, said in a statement.

The home was previously owned by Hurley and Anne Teague since their 1970 purchase. Following Anne Teague’s 2019 death, the property sat vacant for years. Without an heir who could pay for the property’s upkeep, it eventually fell into disrepair. Last year, the home was named to both Chicago’s “most endangered properties” list by Preservation Chicago and Illinois’ Most Endangered Historic Places list by Landmark Illinois.

The home has structural damage, including holes in the foundation, the preservation agencies reported last year. The Teague family has publicly advocated for an entity to step in to preserve the home. Austin Coming Together then purchased the home for $125,000, with $60,000 coming from Chicago’s Troubled Buildings Initiative.

Austin Coming Together is looking to fundraise for a rehab of the home, estimated to be between $2.7 million to $3.5 million, including as much as $575,000 that’s needed to stabilize the property. The nonprofit views the house as a “historic asset with the potential to anchor preservation, education, cultural pride, and community along one of the neighborhood’s key corridors.”

Original reporting: Block Club Chicago — read the source article.