A badly deteriorated Frank Lloyd Wright-designed single-family home on Chicago’s West Side looks to have a new lease on life, as a community organization this week bought the home and plans a major renovation and reuse.
Built in 1903 and known as the J.J. Walser House, the home, at 42 N. Central Avenue, has been described by architectural experts as an exemplary example of Wright’s Prairie style. It’s the only Wright-designed single-family home on the West Side, and, until fairly recently, the same family had owned it for more than 50 years. Longtime owner Anne Teague died in 2019, and after that, the home went into foreclosure, eventually falling into the hands of the Federal National Mortgage Association, or Fannie Mae.
The home’s condition has long alarmed preservationists, particularly aficionados of Wright’s work. In 2025, the nonprofit group Landmarks Illinois placed the Walser House on its annual list of the 10 most endangered historic places in Illinois.
Now, the Walser House, which was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2013 and was named a Chicago city landmark in 1984, appears set for a multimillion-dollar makeover. The community group Austin Coming Together acquired the home this week for $125,000, according to public records.
The home is in serious need of an overhaul. Austin Coming Together’s executive director, Darnell Shields, said his group sees taking control of the Walser House “as a very unique opportunity to leverage an asset of that type. It’s a landmark – and it’s the only one here on the West Side. And given the case of how it was so (entangled) in foreclosure and a financially chaotic distress situation as well as a lack of maintenance for so many years, the property was very much at risk of being either demolished, God forbid, or falling into a private investor’s hands that may do something with it that doesn’t align with the community’s plan for that corridor.”
Shields declined to specify a precise use yet for the Walser House, which is flanked by multifamily housing. However, he said he expects a full renovation to cost between $2.5 million and $3.5 million, and added that he ultimately sees some kind of public use for the home. Initially, however, Austin Coming Together anticipates spending anywhere from $275,000 to $575,000 to stabilize the house, which has sustained roof and window damage.
“The community’s interest is putting this site back to a productive use that leads to enrichment for their lives, whether as a gathering place, whether a place for tourism, whether a place for young people and design and the arts and history – things of that nature,” he said. “We want to figure out what’s going to be the most viable and feasible way where it’s going to be redeveloped and can be used and enhance the lived experience here.”
Austin Coming Together is no stranger to complicated projects. After the 2013 closure of the Robert Emmet Elementary School just across the street from the Walser House, Austin Coming Together teamed up with the Westside Health Authority, which purchased the old school building, at 5500 W. Madison Street. Together, the two groups repurposed the building as the Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation, which is a local hub devoted to job training and entrepreneurship, along with community gathering. The groups also added onto the old building with a three-story, angled atrium to provide greater visibility for the Aspire Center from the intersection of Madison and Central.
“We had great success raising money for that development,” Shields said, referring to the Aspire Center. “Once we have a clear plan that we’ve codesigned with our community on what (the Walser House’s) new use can be, we have the apparatus to use our social capital to bring supporters to the table – institutions, foundations and government that have resources that could help us bring this property where it needs to get to.”
In January, Fannie Mae, which is a government-sponsored enterprise that backs mortgages, bought the Walser House at a foreclosure sale. Then, in April, a deed filed with the Cook County Clerk’s office shows that Fannie Mae sold the home to Chicago-based nonprofit Community Initiatives Inc., which is a group that works to improve and preserve distressed properties.
This week, Austin Coming Together paid Community Initiatives Inc. a recorded amount of $125,000 for the Walser House. However, Hess said a grant from the city’s Troubled Buildings Initiative meant that Austin Coming Together only ended up paying about $65,000 for the house.
“Fannie Mae had been working with us and kind of understood what the plan was,” Hess said. “Darnell Shields is a great steward. This is an incredible story between (Fannie Mae), us, and the City of Chicago’s department of housing. It’s a great vision, and we’re excited.”
Austin Coming Together’s news release announcing the sale included statements from several preservation groups, including one from the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.
“(Austin Coming Together) understands the potential waiting to be unlocked by revitalizing this landmark Frank Lloyd Wright design, celebrating Austin as a destination for notable architecture,” Barbara Gordon, the conservancy’s executive director, said in a statement. “The organization’s deep roots in the community mean they know the rich stories the house can tell about how it has changed over time, and what Austin residents envision for its future.”
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
