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Jennifer Pritzker gives historic homes to Loyola University

Also gave $1 million for upkeep of Rogers Park buildings

Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker Gives Historic Homes to Loyola
Jennifer Pritzker with 7415 and 7421 North Sheridan Road (Getty, Google Maps)

Billionaire Jennifer Pritzker has donated two historic homes in Chicago’s Rogers Park neighborhood to Loyola University Chicago. 

Pritzker’s donation included the Emil Bach House, designed by the legendary Frank Lloyd Wright, and the neighboring Lang Residence, an Arts & Crafts-style home designed by Edgar M. Newman, the Chicago Tribune reported.  

The properties are at 7415 and 7421 North Sheridan Road. Loyola plans to incorporate them into the university’s master plan. 

The donation will allow the university “to host community programs and special events while preserving these historically significant homes,” said Christian Anderson, a university spokesperson. 

Pritzker’s firm, Tawani Enterprises, acquired the Bach House in 2010 for $1.7 million and the Lang Residence in 2005 for $1.32 million. They were extensively renovated and restored, with Pritzker transforming the Bach House into a vacation rental and event space, while the Lang House operated as a bed-and-breakfast. 

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It was constructed in 1915 for Emil Bach, a brick company owner and World War I government information officer. The house, one of only 11 Wright-designed homes within the city, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and was declared a City of Chicago landmark in 1977. 

The Lang House was once owned by the Atlass family, who used the basement to broadcast WBBM radio for a brief period in the 1920s. 

The donation also comes with a $1 million cash gift to support the ongoing management and operation of the properties, ensuring their preservation for future generations.

“These two homes carry treasured histories and are best kept in the hands of a large academic institution with the capacity to maintain them, rather than offer them on the open real estate market,” Tawani’s Susan Rifkin told, the Chicago Sun-Times. 

— Andrew Terrell

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