WIN: Austin Coming Together Acquires the J.J. Walser House, Saving Frank Lloyd Wright’s Chicago West Side Prairie Home (Chicago 7 2025)

Preservation Chicago
By Preservation Chicago
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J.J. Walser House, a 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered. Joseph Jacob (J.J.) Walser House, 1903, Frank Lloyd Wright, 42 N. Central Avenue. Photo Credit: Cristen Brown

“After seven years, Frank Lloyd Wright’s J.J. Walser House, an architectural icon of Chicago’s Austin neighborhood, finally has a new owner. Local nonprofit Austin Coming Together (ACT) just bought the building, courtesy of a deal involving the federal mortgage agency Fannie Mae and the Chicago-based mortgage lender Community Investment Corporation (CIC).

“‘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,’ ACT executive director Darnell Shields said in press materials. ‘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.’

“Wright designed the Walser house for printing executive Joseph Jacob Walser. Built in 1903, it’s one of only five structures from Wright’s Prairie period still standing today in the city the architect lived near for 20 years. The Walser House is a Chicago Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. As Wright’s only single family home on Chicago’s West Side, the site also appeared among the community assets highlighted in ACT’s ‘Austin Forward. Together’ quality-of-life plan in 2019.

“Hurley Teague bought the Walser house in the 1970s for his wife Anne, who ‘grew up in Atlanta and worked as a child care provider for white families,’ Austin Weekly News reported in 2009. The Teagues weren’t aware of the house’s historic origins; its stately size proved its main draw. Hurley Teague refurbished the interiors himself.

“By 2019, after the Teagues died, the Walser House fell into disrepair, burdened by the couple’s reverse mortgage. Last March, it landed on Preservation Chicago’s annual list of endangered historic buildings. The house resurfaced on the market in January after a December foreclosure sale rendered Fannie Mae its owner.

“A source close to the deal told me over email that Fannie Mae discounted its $200,000 asking price to $125,000 so CIC could purchase the Walser House in April. ACT assumed ownership of the property from CIC yesterday for just $65,000 — $60,000 of which came from Chicago’s Trouble Buildings Initiative.

“According to press materials, ACT’s first order of business will be stabilizing the Walser House. After that, it will tap residents, partners, and community leaders to determine the details of its restoration, redesign, and future purpose — similar to how the nonprofit conducted the $45 million transformation of Austin’s former Emmet Elementary School into the state-of-the-art Aspire Center for Workforce Innovation. ACT said the Walser Home’s future reincarnation will honor its architectural roots as well as the Austin community.

“‘We welcome ACT as the newest member of the strong and tight-knit community of Wright building stewards,’ noted Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy digital engagement and communications manager Eric Rogers. The Conservancy will support ACT’s restoration efforts by publishing a profile on the Walser House in the next edition of its semiannual SaveWright magazine, sharing status updates with the Conservancy’s members and constituents, and amplifying calls for donations ‘when appropriate.'” (Benzine, Artnet News, 6/24/26)

“The Joseph Jacob (J.J.) Walser Jr. House located at 42 N. Central Avenue in the Austin neighborhood of Chicago, is a significant structure to both the West Side Chicago neighborhood and city at large. Today, the J.J. Walser Jr. House has accrued additional significance as one of only five extant Prairie School structures designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, perhaps the world’s most recognized architect, and within the city of Chicago. It is also the only single-family house designed by the renowned architect on the city’s West Side.

“The Walser House was listed as a City of Chicago Landmark in 1981, with the Landmark Designation Report later revised in 1983. In 2013 the property was listed in the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) for its significant design by Frank Lloyd Wright, which is exemplary of the design philosophies practiced by the Prairie School of Architecture. The J.J. Walser House is one of Wright’s experiments with employing the tenets of Prairie School design to more affordable residences. The overall massing, horizontal trim, low hipped roofs with wide overhanging eaves, material palette, ribbons of windows, and open floor plan are just some of the design elements that typify the designs of the Prairie School.

“J.J. Walser Jr. and his wife Grace purchased the property at 42 N. Central Avenue for their new home in early 1903. It is not known how Walser, the son of Jacob Joseph Walser, a founder of the Goss Printing Company and a real estate developer in Austin, came to commission architect Frank Lloyd Wright (1867–1959) for the design of his home. Proximity to Wright’s home and studio in Oak Park, Illinois, is one possible explanation. The scope of the commission included ‘not only a modern style house but also custom-designed interior built-in furniture and specially designed leaded art glass windows.’ For a cost of $4,000, the house was built and occupied by the Walser family by the end of 1903.

“Though not often cited as one of Wright’s grander works, the Walser House nonetheless incorporates essential details of the Prairie Style and is a testament to the style’s broad applicability and its emphasis on simple forms, horizontality, and ‘organic’ naturalism. Just two years after its construction, the house was featured in the September 1905 issue of House Beautiful magazine. At the time, it was often cited as a model design for similarly modest, architect-designed residences.

“The J.J. Walser House has long needed more preservation support. Anne and Hurley Teague purchased the house in 1970, stabilized it, and continued to steward this invaluable historic asset for nearly fifty years. After the passing of Anne Teague in 2019, the future of the house further became uncertain amid the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The house has been unoccupied and unmaintained for the past six years, and the harsh climate of our region has taken an especially significant toll on the fragile historic materials throughout its exterior and interior. The condition of the house is just one of many obstacles. The property is also undergoing foreclosure and the impacts of a reverse mortgage, which is complicating and slowing efforts to find a new owner and steward for the house.

“While the house is protected from intentional demolition as a City of Chicago Landmark, the severity of the existing conditions and continued rapid deterioration pose a serious threat to the future of this significant Frank Lloyd Wright designed home in Austin Community.” (J.J. Walser House, a Preservation Chicago 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered chapter)

Significant work remains ahead, but we are thrilled that Austin Coming Together is the new owner with the will and capacity to fully restore this important building. We remain actively involved until the restoration is complete.

J.J. Walser Jr. House was a Preservation Chicago 2025 Chicago 7 Most Endangered and we have been working very closely with stakeholders to bring about a successful outcome for the Walser House. We worked to secure and support potential restoration buyers along with our preservation partners the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Landmarks Illinois and other community organizations.

Preservation Chicago has played an important role in this campaign and led the building court effort by attending every hearing in person to advocate on behalf of this very important house by a very important architect in very distressed condition. Due to holes in the roof and broken windows, water has been able to penetrate into the home and cause damage. Vandalism and vagrancy remain ongoing problems and a potential threat.

During the vulnerable period of vacancy, we checked on the house often and have often requested that the building court order the property manager to replace the frayed tarps and to resecure damaged or missing board-ups.

The recent intense phase was the culmination of many years of monitoring the deteriorating condition of this important house and advocating for its stabilization and restoration. Our extensive experience working in neighborhoods of disinvestment has proven to be a very important component in working through many challenges.

Ward Miller noted the extraordinary commitment of the Teague family: “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.” The Teagues — who came to the house not as architecture enthusiasts but as Chicagoans looking for a home worthy of their family — gave the Walser House nearly fifty years of stewardship. They deserve to be remembered as part of this building’s story.

Read the full story at Artnet News and Preservation Chicago

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