The 2,950-square-foot, Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Emil Bach House in the North Side Rogers Park neighborhood is one of two vintage side-by-side houses that billionaire Jennifer Pritzker has just donated to Loyola University Chicago.
Over the years, Pritzker, a scion of the Hyatt Hotels fortune and the cousin of Gov. JB Pritzker, has amassed a sizable portfolio of vintage houses in Chicago and in Evanston. She has taken worn-down commercial and residential buildings and restored them to prominence.
Now, Pritzker has donated both the Prairie-style Bach House, at 7415 N. Sheridan, and the house next door, at 7421 N. Sheridan, to Loyola.
The Bach House was built in 1915 for Bach, a Wright admirer who had co-owned the Bach Brick Co. and had been a government information officer during World War I. Although the U.S. was in the midst of World War I at the time of the Bach House’s construction, Bach had access to walnut, which at that time was controlled by the U.S. Army, and thus was able to procure it and use it in the construction of his house. The Bach House is one of 11 Wright-designed houses in the city limits, and it was declared a City of Chicago landmark in 1977 and then added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
Meanwhile, the Arts-and-Crafts-style house at 7421 N. Sheridan is known as the Lang residence, and it was designed by architect Edgar M. Newman. The house later was owned by the Atlass family, and brothers H. Leslie Atlass and Ralph Atlass began broadcasting newly launched WBBM radio from the basement of the house in 1924 for a year before moving into more official digs in the lobby of a nearby hotel.
Pritzker’s Tawani Enterprises paid $1.7 million in 2010 for the Bach House, and paid $1.32 million in 2005 for the Lang house. Pritzker worked to renovate both homes, and in the early 2010s, she transformed the Bach House into a vacation rental home and a site for meetings and events.
Pritzker recently donated the houses to Loyola. Christian Anderson, assistant vice president of university marketing and communication for Loyola, told Elite Street that Pritzker’s gift agreement closed in late January.
Now, Loyola officials are just beginning the process of incorporating the buildings into the campus master plan and into university activities. The two homes do not immediately adjoin Loyola’s campus.
Anderson told Elite Street that the university is developing plans to use the properties for Loyola functions and special events “while maintaining the same level of care and stewardship these homes have historically received.”
“Recognizing their significance to the neighborhood, Loyola is committed to maintaining the homes’ historical and community value,” Anderson said in a statement.
The Chicago Sun-Times first reported on the donations.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
