Bank Will Repair Decaying Frank Lloyd Wright Home in Chicago

A long-neglected home designed by Frank Lloyd Wright on Chicago’s West Side is finally set to receive urgent repairs, marking the first meaningful step toward its preservation after decades of decay.

The Walser House, a 122-year-old residence at 42 North Central Avenue in the Austin neighborhood, will be repaired by the bank that holds the mortgage, previously reported as PHH Mortgage, which informed a Cook County judge earlier this month that it would begin addressing a host of prevailing building code violations, the Chicago Sun-Times reported.

Preservationists view the repairs as crucial to saving the home, one of Wright’s early works and a rare architectural landmark in a part of the city that has seen far less preservation investment than areas like Oak Park. Restoration costs are estimated at about $500,000, said Barbara Gordon, the conservancy’s executive director.

Built in 1903, the stucco residence was designed for printing executive Joseph Jacob Walser Jr. and is noted for its horizontal lines, overhanging eaves and bands of windows — features that would later define Wright’s signature Prairie School style.

The home has fallen into serious disrepair. A court filing detailed damage that includes rotting wood, cracked stucco, exposed structural elements and a deteriorating roof and chimney.

It has stood vacant since its last owner died in 2019, and it is also entangled in foreclosure proceedings, with a reverse mortgage that exceeds the home’s value.

A coalition of preservation advocates — including Austin Coming Together, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Landmarks Illinois and Preservation Chicago — has pushed for years to save the house. Local leaders hope the home can ultimately be donated to a nonprofit that would raise funds to restore the property and repurpose it as a community space or tourism site.

A status hearing on the repairs is scheduled for April 1, and while the future of the Walser House is still far from certain, preservationists say the bank’s commitment signals the first real progress in years.

— Judah Duke