HYDE PARK — No one seems to want Hyde Park’s Heller House designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, which has been on the market unsold for nearly five years.
The seven-bedroom mansion at 5132 S. Woodlawn is a national historic landmark and a Chicago landmark, protecting an early Wright design inside and out.
The house built in 1897 is from a rare transitional period in Wright’s career where he was still influenced by the dense ornamentation of his mentor, Louis Sullivan.
Owners Steven Goldstein and Emily Novick have carried on the preservation of the home since moving in in 2004 and maintained much of the intricately carved woodwork inside, stained glass windows and stone reliefs of gowned women on the outside.
The home was originally listed in 2012 when Goldstein accepted a job at Brandeis University, but has struggled to sell.
Realtor Diane Silverman said the home was put back on the market for $2.4 million earlier this week after being taken off the market in January.
The price has barely changed in the last three years and was originally listed for $2.5 million in 2012.
Silverman said the family loves the home and Goldstein still commutes from Brandeis to spend time in the home.
When it was first listed, Novick told Chicago Magazine that living in the house was comparable to owning a painting by Vincent Van Gogh.
Beside the high asking price, it’s unclear why the Heller House has not yet sold.
Two other Frank Lloyd Wright-designed homes have sold in the neighborhood since the Heller House went on the market.
The neighboring MacArthur and Blossom homes in Kenwood, both of which required significant work, were the subject of interest from buyers, including plans by Jennifer Pritzker to convert both into a bed and breakfast.
Neither is as clearly a Wright design from the exterior as the Heller House and the price of both was dramatically reduced before a buyer was found, with the MacArthur House’s price reduced by nearly $500,000 before it was sold for $925,000.
Both were “bootlegs” designed by Wright off the books while working for Adler and Sullivan.
The Heller House was Wright’s first official design for Hyde Park and is considered a turning point in his thinking during the development of his prairie style that would be epitomized in his design of Hyde Park’s Robie House in 1909.
The Heller House's interior is protected as well because it is a national landmark.
The design is considered a turning point for Wright as he developed his prairie style.
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