Your Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie Home is Waiting in Elmhust, Ill.
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Often when I write about second homes, I’m writing about areas to consider. This time I’m dictating exactly which second home you must purchase. I’m doing this because it’s one thing to impress your friends by owning a second home, but it’s a complete mic drop to add that it’s a Frank Lloyd Wright prairie style home.
Known as the F.B. Henderson home, this property is situated on roughly one-half acre in the Chicago suburb of Elmhurst at 301 S. Kenilworth Avenue. It was built in 1901 during Wright’s brief partnership with Henry Webster Tomlinson and is almost a mirror to Wright’s Hickox house in Kankakee, Illinois. I like this one better because it’s much closer to Chicago. The home has 5,500 square feet with six bedrooms and four bathrooms. It’s been on and off the market for a couple of years (with a rental period in the middle) and is currently listed with Marilyn Fisher with L.W. Realty for $1.1 million, though she’s quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying, “The price may come down.”
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Remarkable! Hard to believe it’s priced below the other houses for sale in the neighborhood. There seems to be no premium attached to the Frank Lloyd Wright name in this case.
There might be more premium if the condition was perfect. I sense there’s more than the kitchen that needs fixing (no bathroom pics). You also have to figure that at 5,500 square feet, a good chunk is in the basement which isn’t considered premium space. Top it off being a National Register property and the renovation is not only costly, but bureaucratic.
I’m with Brian… seems like a great buy. But as you say, Jon, maybe it’s a huge project, and it would have to be a buyer’s passion project to fight the regulations.
So you and Brian buy and renovate and I’ll come over for lemonade (in summer, not winter). 🙂