The University of Southern California (USC) has sold Freeman house, a historic residence built by Frank Lloyd Wright in the first half of ‘20s, to a Los Angeles real estate developer – Richard E. Weintraub, president and CEO of the Weintraub Real Estate Group – in a private deal that will see the fragile site preserved and restored.

The structure, located in Hollywood Hills at 1962 of Glencoe Way, once was a hub in dialog with the surrounding nature for Los Angeles–area creatives. Then, in 1986, the original owners, Samuel and Harriet Freeman, donated it to the USC’s Architecture School. The 2,800-square-foot building is one of Wright’s six house created with the textile block  system, a unique structural building method created by the architect in the early 1920s and based on wall made by patterned concrete blocks reinforced by steel rods.

Following the damage from a 1994 earthquake, architecture preservationists were concerned for the deteriorating conditions of the house. A FEMA grant and USC fundraising in 2005 had paid for repairs to the building’s weakening facade and other structural elements; but the restoration project stalled out when the school’s administration changed. In 2019, new concerns over USC’s ownership arose when it was revealed that the university had failed to disclose the theft of several items of designer furniture from the home.

Weintraub purchased the property for $1.8 million, a fraction of the $4.25 million price for which it was listed when USC put it up for sale on the open market in July. Before securing the deal with Weintraub, the school scaled the price down further, to $3.25 million, due to its extensive rehabilitation needs. As part of the conditions for the private sale with Weintraub, the Los Angeles Conservancy has placed a conservation easement on the historic site, prohibiting Weintraub or any future buyer from tearing it down or making additions. The agreement stipulated also that educational programs will give public access to the home four times a year.