 At the time, the interior was furnished with furniture Mies designed in the 1930s, but that was produced more recently by Knoll, as well as designs by Mies' grandson, Dirk Lohan, a Chicago architect Palumbo commissioned specifically for the house.In 2001, Palumbo struck a deal with the state of Illinois, which agreed to buy the house for $7 million and open it full-time to the public, but state officials withdrew from the deal in early 2003, saying $7 million was too much to spend at a time of financial crisis.After owning the property for 31 years, Palumbo removed the art and put the property up for sale at Sotheby's in 2003, raising serious concerns about the future of the building.