After finally finding a buyer last October, it seemed as though Frank Lloyd Wright's George Blossom House in the Kenwood neighborhood had finally found its much needed savior. However nearly a year later, the house's future is still very much uncertain. According to the Hyde Park Herald, the Blossom House's new owners had plans to restore the famous home, but the big renovation effort appears to have come to a halt. The home's new owners had tapped John Eifler of Eifler & Associates to lead the project, and according to the Herald, Eifler had been posting online updates regarding the house as recent as this March. Now neighbors are scratching their heads wondering if the home will ever receive the restoration it so badly needs.
The home first hit the market back in October 2012 with an asking price of $1.480 million. It's not unusual for Frank Lloyd Wright homes to spend a considerable amount of time on the market, and this home was certainly no exception. In the two years that it sat on the market, the home received multiple price reductions, and finally sold for $675,000 last October—less than half of its original asking price.
In 2013, billionaire and noted preservation Col. Jennifer Pritzker took interest in both the George Blossom and the Warren McArthur houses in Kenwood and had planned to purchase both and turn them into bed and breakfasts. After much debate over the idea, Kenwood residents ultimately rejected the proposal and the homes continued to sit on the market with uncertain futures.
FLWright's crumbling Blossom House: neighbors who blocked B&B plan that would have restored it were nuts. pic.twitter.com/SEA6CJ7EWF
— Blair Kamin (@BlairKamin) September 21, 2014
[The house as it looked last September.]
Although the restoration of the Blossom House may have started, recent images of the home show that it is still in very rough shape. Ivy is no longer taking over the exterior of the house like it was this time last year, but there is still a lot of work left to bring this house back to a good state.
·The future of Wright's Blossom House still in question [Hyde Park Herald]
·Frank Lloyd Wright's Blossom House is Finally Under Contract [Curbed Chicago]
·Jennifer Pritzker Would Make B&B's of Kenwood Wright Homes [Curbed Chicago]
·Listing history [Redfin]
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