Wright Chat

I stumbled across a video tour of the Heurtley House and posted about it on www.PrairieMod.com.



Has anyone been able to see the restored house firsthand? It's pretty amazing and definitely a labor of love. I thought I'd pose a question to the forum. Do you think the house will sell for anywhere near the asking price of $5,750,00? I think it has to be the most expensive house for sale in Oak Park. I know there is a current debate about the addition of more house museums, but is it unlikely to think that maybe this house could be added to the Preservations Trust's museum fold? (The Home and Studio is right down the street.) It seems the price being asked is out of sync for Oak Park. What does everyone else think?

I have been inside a few times. I think it is absolutely beautiful. But I don't think the owners are going to get that asking price even though it includes the reproduced furniture. I can see a couple of million at the most. I find it unbelievable how expensive the houses are getting in the Oak Park Historic District. I also thought about the Preservation Trust buying the Heurtley House. It would make a great place for receptions or fundraisers. But they need to focus on the Robie House restoration before they acquire more properties.

Didn't the Heurtley House recently sell?

It's for sale currently at the Wright on the Market section of this site. It last sold some 8 - 10 years ago.



Peter

The current owners of the Heurtley House bought it in 1997 (which is "recent" when you consider that the immediate past owners of such houses as Davenport in River Forest and Beachy and Hills in Oak Park all had lived in their houses for 25 years or more before selling). I've been in Heurtley several times; it was on Wright Plus in 2002, and the current owners have also been very gracious about including it in house walks for other charitable organizations.

The current owners did a great job of restoration, which cost a lot of money. I assume their asking price reflects how much money they sunk into the house during restoration, but it's considerably higher than the asking prices of several other Wright houses that had been on the market in Oak Park and River Forest in recent years.