{"id":900701,"date":"2026-10-31T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900701\/"},"modified":"2026-10-31T05:00:12","modified_gmt":"2026-10-31T05:00:12","slug":"inspired-by-frank-lloyd-wright-then-wronged-by-neglect-south-park-terrace-heads-for-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/900701\/","title":{"rendered":"Inspired by Frank Lloyd Wright then wronged by neglect, South Park Terrace heads for auction"},"content":{"rendered":"

A picturesque 121-year-old South Side courtyard building inspired by an historic Frank Lloyd Wright design \u2014 and featured in a 1995 Halle Berry movie \u2014 is now scheduled for auction.<\/p>\n

South Park Terrace, a Prairie School-styled apartment building at 6116 S. King Drive, is set to be auctioned off Nov. 16-18, according to a marketing brochure by Frontline Real Estate Partners.<\/p>\n

The opening bid is $100,000. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe do expect it to go for significantly more than that,\u201d Frontline Principal Matthew Tarshis said.<\/p>\n

Frontline was named South Park Terrace\u2019s court-appointed receiver, after the building was vacated under city order in 2025 due to its dilapidated condition.<\/p>\n

Officials saw the situation as exigent enough that residents had to begin leaving the building with just two days notice.<\/p>\n

The city\u2019s Department of Buildings said in a statement at the time that the owners, listed then as Brooklyn, New York\u2019s 6116 MLK, \u201ccompletely abandoned the building, allowing the property to go into foreclosure, and conditions continued to deteriorate to the point of imminent danger to the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Exterior<\/p>\n

The Washington Park apartment building at 6116 S. King Dr. is boarded up after tenants were told in 2025 to vacate the premises.<\/p>\n

Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere\/Sun-Times file<\/p>\n

Frontline\u2019s 14-page marketing brochure touts the location of the two-story, 52-unit Washington Park building and its notable, park-like private courtyard.<\/p>\n

South Park Terrace is on a major public transit route, is two blocks from a CTA Green Line stop and near the jobs-rich University of Chicago and medical complex.<\/p>\n

Preservation Chicago placed South Park Terrace on its 2026 list of Chicago\u2019s seven most endangered places<\/a>, but there\u2019s cause for relief: The building is not being marketed as a tear-down.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe believe that the highest and best use for the property is for somebody to come in, and hopefully inject fresh capital, renovate the property, and ideally lease it up and stabilize it,\u201d Tarshis said.<\/p>\n

Me too.<\/p>\n

What a great building. And its close to the Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvery Vaux-designed Washington Park and near more amenities and employment opportunities than you can shake a stick at.<\/p>\n

And shame on every entity \u2014 public and private \u2014 that let such well-designed, affordably priced housing fall into ruin. If any building deserves a second chance, it\u2019s this one.<\/p>\n

Built in 1905 for developer Thomas E. Wells \u2014 you can see his initials molded into terra cotta medallions on the building\u2019s entry arch \u2014 South Park Terrace was designed by Harry Hale Waterman, an associate of Frank Lloyd Wright.<\/p>\n

In the 1995 film \u201cLosing Isaiah,\u201d Halle Berry\u2019s character, Khaila Richards, lives in the building. The exterior and the courtyard are prominently seen in the movie.<\/p>\n

Waterman patterned the building after Wright\u2019s Francisco Terrace Apartments, built in 1895 at 253-257 N. Francisco Ave.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Archival<\/p>\n

Francisco Terrace Apartments, Chicago, Illinois. Frank Lloyd Wright, architect.<\/p>\n

Gilman Lane, photographer. Historic Architecture and Landscape Image Collection, Ryerson and Burnham Art and Architecture Archives, The Art Institute of Chicago. Digital File #67365<\/p>\n

Wells must have liked the design: He hired architect Douglas S. Pentecost to give South Park Terrace a twin, Washington Park Terrace, which was built in 1909 and still stands at 6160-6212 S. King Drive.<\/p>\n

The three buildings sought to give natural light, fresh air, greenery and good design to their working class tenants \u2014 a mission that\u2019s as important now as it was 120 years ago. Maybe more so.<\/p>\n

Francisco Terrace was wrecked in 1974. It\u2019s time to make sure the same fate doesn\u2019t befall South Park Terrace. It needs a buyer who won\u2019t let demolition by neglect happen somewhere down the road, or alter the building in some way that diminishes its beauty and importance.<\/p>\n

Given South Park Terrace\u2019s design and pedigree, a city and the landmark commission must soon consider a designation that would protect the main elevations and courtyard.<\/p>\n

Maybe a two-for-the-price-of-one deal that also includes its street mate, Washington Park Terrace.<\/p>\n

While we\u2019re at it, the city would also do a lot of good by stepping in after the sale and working with the new owners to keep rents in the building affordable for working class folk.<\/p>\n

Preservation Chicago Executive Director Ward Miller said, \u201cWe are hopeful that a new good steward would come forward to purchase and restore this amazing building.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A picturesque 121-year-old South Side courtyard building inspired by an historic Frank Lloyd Wright design \u2014 and featured…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900702,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":["post-900701","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900701","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900701"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900701\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900702"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900701"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900701"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900701"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}