Preservation Chicago last week announced its annual Chicago 7 list, identifying the city’s most endangered historic buildings. Prominent on the list is the only home designed on the West Side by Frank Lloyd Wright. The future of the dilapidated home is precarious.
Since 2003 the non-profit group, which advocates for historic preservation, has sounded the alarm on local historic buildings that are in danger of being lost.
The group hopes that identifying the buildings will motivate stakeholders and the public to offer the support necessary to save the buildings from demolition.
Included on the list this year is Frank Lloyd Wright’s J.J. Walser House at 42 N. Central Ave. in Austin. The home was built in1903 for printing company executive Joseph Jacob Walser. It is one of only five existing Wright-designed Prairie structures in Chicago and is the only Wright-designed single-family home on the West Side.
After the death of owner Anne Teague in 2019, the home’s future has been in doubt. Before her death, she had a reverse mortgage on the home. That reverse mortgage and pending foreclosure proceedings are complicating efforts to save the home.
Anne and Hurley Teague purchased the house in 1970, and Hurley, a contractor, worked to stabilize the home, which had seen many alterations to Wright’s original design under previous owners.
The house was named a Chicago Landmark in 1981, a designation that prohibits demolition and requires approval for exterior changes. In 2013, the home was listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP.)
Before Teague’s death, the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy advised her and brought in engineering and architecture firm Wiss, Janey, Elstner to prepare a pro bono assessment of the home. At that time, the roof was leaking and the home was in need of a significant amount of maintenance work.
Preservation Chicago’s report details the state of the house:
“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. Despite admirable temporary enclosure efforts and the clearance of overgrown vegetation by advocacy partners, the entirety of the house requires immediate evaluation and repair.
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. No repair efforts can be undertaken without the property owner’s consent, and with the ownership of the property in legal limbo, while the house continues to deteriorate and suffer from deferred maintenance.”
Preservation Chicago has partnered with the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy, Landmarks Illinois and Austin Coming Together to monitor the conditions of the house and work with the mortgage company, financial firm and City of Chicago to expedite the foreclosure process in hopes of getting a new owner for the home.
The advocacy groups hope that the next owner will be a steward who can stabilize, repair and restore the home. As a NRHP-Listed property, Preservation Chicago states that the house is a certified historic structure and a qualified rehabilitation project undertaken by future owners could qualify for federal and state historic tax credits to finance the much-needed repairs.
The complete list of Preservation Chicago’s Chicago 7, 2025 Most Endangered Buildings can be viewed at https://www.preservationchicago.org/chicago-7/#
• The Delaware Building
• Clarence Darrow Memorial Bridge
• J.J. Walser House
• Olivet Baptist Church
• Central Manufacturing District Clock Tower
• Western Boulevard Industrial Buildings
• St. Martin’s Church
