SA Foster House - Chicago, IL

scn · Post by **scn** » Sat Jan 29, 2005 9:15 pm

Does anyone know anything about the recent sale of the SA Foster home in Chicago's West Pullman neighborhood?? According to the Northern Illinois Multi-Listing Service it closed in mid-December with final sale price of $240,000. (It was originally put on the market 3 years ago for $399,000).

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 3:56 pm

$240,000 seems like a very low price. Does anyone know if the property needed work? If I recall, the house is not located in a very good neighborhood.

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 3:57 pm

$240,000 seems like a very low price. Does anyone know if the property needed work? If I recall, the house is not located in a very good neighborhood.

scn · Post by **scn** » Sun Jan 30, 2005 8:54 pm

The house is in a TERRIBLE neighborhood. It's really a shame. I looked very seriously into purchasing the Foster house about a year and a half ago - hence my interest in it's recent sale. The house itself was in okay condition - no structural issues such as a leaky roof or walls falling down. It had been maintained in that respect. Unfortunately most of the original interior Wright features had been changed over the years. There was gaudy 1950's flowery wallpaper all over the second floor, the bathroom had been redone with a pink tub, toilet and sink, and all of the trim on the second floor had been painted yellow. From what I understand the same family owned the house since the 1920's. The parents past away a few years ago and none of the adult children had an interest keeping the house.

As I said in my original post, if anyone has any information regarding the buyers of the home, I would be greatly interested. Thank you!

Jennifer · Post by **Jennifer** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:06 pm

A bit of a late follow-up but if anyone knows something about the house I would also be interested. We also seriously considered the house, but in the end I just wasn't willing to change my lifestyle such as would have been required to live in that neighborhood. We even looked into the possibility of moving it, but were told that would be impossible in the city what with power lines and viaducts.

When we looked at the house (summer of '03) the asking price was at ~$350K and the only offer was from a developer. It was about what I heard the final selling price was, which makes me wonder if the family finally gave in to him. I don't know if he would be allowed to tear down or significantly change the house, it would be a shame...

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 8:32 pm

I don't think it was purchased by a developer. If so, there's not much they could do because the Foster home is a Chicago Landmark property which means they wouldn't have been able to demolish it or alter the exterior significantly.

So... nobody knows anything further?

Paloma · Post by **Paloma** » Tue Feb 22, 2005 9:07 pm

I would suggest calling the county Assessor