Historic Frank Lloyd Wright Home Added to List of Endangered Architecture in Chicago
The J.J. Walser Jr. House, one of five Wright-designed homes in the city, has fallen into disrepair, prompting calls for preservation
A historic Frank Lloyd Wright home has been added to a list of endangered architecture in Chicago.
Located in the Austin neighborhood, the J.J. Walser Jr. House is one of the city’s five surviving Prairie-style homes designed by Wright. It’s been unoccupied for several years and is in dire need of repair.
Every year, Preservation Chicago, a nonprofit that advocates for local architecture, publishes its Chicago 7 list, which draws attention to at-risk buildings in the city. This year, the organization added the Walser House.
“The Walser House had been on our watchlist of buildings for several years,” Ward Miller, Preservation Chicago’s executive director, tells Richard Whiddington of Artnet. “The vacancy of the building, along with the visual inspection of the building’s interior and noting both the water damage and vandalism, lead us to make this a priority and emergency advocacy effort.”
Built for printing executive Joseph Jacob Walser in 1903, the house features overhanging eaves and an open floor plan full of built-in furniture and art glass windows. It was part of Wright’s attempt to apply Prairie-style architecture to affordable structures, and it cost only $4,000 (about $150,000 today).
The Walser House’s most recent owners, Anne and Hurley Teague, bought the property in 1970. Before his death in 1997, Hurley, a contractor, worked tirelessly to preserve the home. Anne died in 2019, leaving the property’s future uncertain. In recent years, the property’s condition worsened, exacerbated by Chicago’s harsh climate.
“The house has been unoccupied and unmaintained for the past six years,” according to Preservation Chicago’s website. “Despite admirable temporary enclosure efforts and the clearance of overgrown vegetation by advocacy partners, the entirety of the house requires immediate evaluation and repair.”
On its website, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy writes that “every part of this house needs attention.” The organization is pushing for the home to be placed in the hands of a steward who will “stabilize it structurally and work toward its restoration and reuse.”
The home, which was designated as a Chicago Landmark in 1981 and placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013, is protected from demolition. However, it remains at risk of further decay. Legal challenges, including foreclosure proceedings and a reverse mortgage taken out on the home in 2003, are “complicating efforts to save the home,” according to Lacey Sikora of Austin Weekly News.
The house is currently being monitored by several advocacy groups, including Preservation Chicago and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, which are pushing for expedited foreclosure proceedings. A future owner may be able to take advantage of federal and state historic tax credits to finance repairs, but time is of the essence.
“This needs to occur quickly,” Miller tells Artnet. “The home is very susceptible to environmental conditions and also to people breaking and entering onto the property.”
Miller is encouraging all stakeholders and lenders to work together to find solutions quickly, according to Katherine McLaughlin of Architectural Digest. He is also calling on the city of Chicago to assist with funding needed to restore Wright’s vision for this landmark building.
“Its longtime owners tried their very best to maintain the home, despite the costs associated with some of the various needs and requirements, as they continued to age,” Miller tells the publication. “We need the community to voice their support for this amazing house and be a partner in its restoration, repair and revival.”