1903 Frank Lloyd Wright Landmark Rehab will Cost Millions

A Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home on Chicago’s West Side that fell into disrepair is getting a $3.5 million facelift.

The Walser House at 42 North Central Avenue was built in 1903, and has been juggled between a series of owners to Austin Coming Together — a nonprofit organization that focuses on quality of life efforts in the West Side neighborhood — that plans an extensive renovation of the landmark. The home changed hands on April 24 from Fannie Mae to Chicago-based Community Initiatives, who told Crain’s that it acquired the house from the government for $125,000. Austin Coming Together paid the same amount, which included $60,000 from the city’s Troubled Buildings Initiative. Fannie Mae took control of the building in January.

Austin Coming Together executives pegged the full restoration tab from $2.7 million to $3.5 million, according to the outlet. The building has sustained substantial damage. Significant repairs are needed for the roof and windows, and moisture has begun to adversely affect the interior of the building, which has been vacant since 2019.

The building was designed by legendary American architect Frank Lloyd Wright, and was built in 1903 for Joseph and Grace Walser. 42 North Central Avenue is one of a handful of Wright-designed buildings that are left in Chicago from the architect’s “Prairie Period,” from the Prairie School design style that dominated the American Midwest. The school’s calling cards are integration with the surrounding landscape, continuous horizontal lines in roof design and ribbon windows. Wright designed homes, skyscrapers, museums, churches and schools during his 91 years of life.

Restoring the home requires following the original Prairie School design to the letter. The home is a Chicago landmark and is part of the National Register of Historic Places.

Austin Coming Together’s work has a mandate to mirror Wright’s original work as closely as possible. The community group plans to raise money to begin rehabbing the building. Darnell Shields, executive director of Austin Coming Together, said in a press release that the first step is to stabilize the landmark and prevent any more deterioration.

— Hunter Cooke