The fight to preserve the Frank Lloyd Wright house that's been in danger of demolition for the past few months may be over -- Robert Joffe, the real estate agent who listed the house at $2,379,000 has confirmed he has found a buyer.
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Joffe says the buyer has chosen not to release any personal information, but that the intent is to preserve and restore the historic property.
Today, the buyer met with Joffe and 8081 Meridian, the property's current owners in a "meeting of the minds." Next will be a walk through and process of due diligence, which will give the buyer time to get into the "guts" of the house, says Joffe, and then a close of escrow. According to Joffe, the process should take a few weeks.
"This is the biggest preservation news we've had in years," wrote Phoenix City Councilman Sal DiCiccio on his Facebook page this afternoon. "An anonymous buyer has been found for the Wright house which will preserve an iconic Phoenix property built by America's greatest architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. Thanks to all who labored long and hard on this including; Mayor Stanton, the sellers, staff, all potential buyers and the people of Phoenix who rallied to help preserve it."
Find out more and see more photos on the next page.
The historic home at 5212 East Exeter was built by Frank Lloyd Wright in the early 1950s for his son, David. The Wright family sold the house to JT Morning Glory Enterprises LP in 2009 (for $2.8 million) and was recently sold again to 8081 Meridian for $1.8 million.
Phoenix New Times architecture columnist, Robrt Pela, recently wrote about the house in "Architecture Worth Preserving." He writes:
If you hadn't heard of the David and Gladys Wright House until recently, it's because its late owners -- the son and daughter-in-law of pioneering 20th-century architect Frank Lloyd Wright -- did their best to keep their home off the radar of Wright fanatics and local looky-loos. And if you haven't recently heard about this very unusual (and very endangered) house at all, then perhaps you've been in a coma....It's a story that's been told again and again -- far too often by me in this column -- but this time, local preservationists are hopeful that the national attention and public outcry ("Tear down a house Wright built for his own family? What's wrong with these people?!") will do more than just shaming city officials into backing off one more time.
Stay tuned for more information and check out photos of the house by local photographer Andrew Pielage after the jump. Read the full column in last week's print issue of New Times and in the online arts section.
