Austin Coming Together led a coalition of nonprofits to purchase the dilapidated J. Walser House, a Frank Lloyd Wright-designed home at 42 N. Central Ave., hoping to revitalize the structure after years of severe deterioration and legal uncertainty.
ACT announced the purchase on June 24. Darnell Shields, executive director of ACT, told Austin Weekly that the immediate goal is to stabilize the severe structural problems facing the building. Shields said those fixes are expected to cost $575,000. The goal is to raise that money in time for the home to be buttoned up before another “fierce winter.”
The timeline for completing all those foundational issues is 8 to 14 months if “all the resources are there,” he said. Fundraising is currently underway.
Completely refurbishing the Wright home will take from two to four years, said Shields. “It’s expensive and time-consuming, but we’re up for it,” he said. “We’ve seen it happen and know it can happen.”
Over the last few years, ACT has been working with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy to clear the legal hurdles to the acquisition and raise money to restore it.
Wright designed the house in 1903 for printing company executive Jospeh Jacob Walser and his wife, Grace Walser.
John Waters, the conservancy’s preservation programs director, previously told Austin Weekly News that the house was notable in the context of Wright’s other designs because it’s a smaller version of a more typical Wright Prairie school design. The co-axial design allowed for flow of light and air.
Shields said ACT’s goal is for the home to be put to a public use. He said the full cost of salvaging and then restoring the home will reach $2 million to $3 million. In a neighborhood where fully rehabbed homes now sell for $300,000 to $400,000, Shields said, it is not likely the house will again be a single-family home.
A planning process involving the Austin community will commence, he said, and be modeled on the effort to convert the long vacant Emmet School on Central into the Aspire Center.
“The community is best positioned to say what this development could become,” he said. “We see this as a site for enrichment and education, for all of the things that community members value, young and old. This community is on a trajectory of community-led change. Like the Aspire Center, like 40 Acres. Things are being developed by us, for us. This is something similar,” said Shields.
The house has gone through several owners. In 1970, it was purchased by Anne and Hurly Teague, who worked to shore up the building and did their best to restore its historical features. With their support, the Walser House was named a Chicago Landmark in 1984. In 2013, the home was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
But after by then widowed Anne Teague died in 2019, the house became vacant, and Fannie Mae ended up taking possession of the property.
ACT has been pushing to revitalize the Central Avenue corridor, describing it as a connector to various parts of the Austin community. The November 2024 ACT Central Avenue Action Plan named the Walser House as one of corridor’s “major cultural and natural assets.”
Shields described the array of local, state and federal entities which have helped ACT gain control of the home. He cited the conservancy, Landmarks Illinois, Preservation Chicago, the City of Chicago, local elected officials, community residents, and the Teague family.
Fannie Mae and CIC are partners as well, said Shields. “They helped us figure out how to get a residential property that was in foreclosure. They will continue to be partners. They want to see the building put back into use.”
In a statement to the media, Conservancy Executive Director Barbara Gordon described ACT as a good steward for the property.
“ACT understands the potential waiting to be unlocked by revitalizing this landmark Frank Lloyd Wright design, celebrating Austin as a destination for notable architecture,” she said. “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.”
“The J.J. Walser House is part of Austin’s story, and we believe its next chapter should be shaped by the people who call this community home,” he said. “ACT stepped in because this house is critically important, not only as a Frank Lloyd Wright design, but as a piece of Austin’s history. Our first responsibility is to stabilize this treasured landmark and protect it from further deterioration. From there, we will work with residents and partners to envision a future that honors both the house and the community.”
To find out more, and sign up for updates, visit https://austincomingtogether.org/walser/
