List price: $2.195 million
The Property: This rugged stone and cedar retreat hidden away on nine wooded acres is just minutes from downtown St. Charles. The place has a bulky exterior—a massive pyramidal wood shingle roof and deeply recessed window and door openings—but inside it lightens up, with an open floor plan, soaring ceilings, and an outsized skylight. Built in 1978, the 6,259-square-foot residence has four bedrooms, five-plus baths, and five fireplaces; the place also has a tennis court and a pool. “That big a house was unheard of [in the 1970s],” says Jeff Jordan, the Re/Max Excels agent listing the house for its sellers. While he declined to name them—and Kane County records do not identify them—Jordan says that they have been in the house for about twenty years, and that they updated the kitchen in 2005.
Price Points: Last October, the sellers listed the house for sale only with its immediate four acres, at $1.75 million. They would have sold the rest to developers, as they have with 36 adjacent acres they used to own. But as Jordan notes, St. Charles has a glut of homes in the $1-million to $2-million price range. (According to the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois, nine homes in St. Charles sold for $1 million or more over the last six months; currently, 99 houses are listed for sale in town priced in that range.) So in May the sellers tossed in the remaining land and upped their price to $2.195 million. The added land is zoned as three buildable lots. It’s an unusual tactic—raising the price when the house doesn’t sell—but Jordan believes it will put the house in a more exclusive bracket and make the property a better investment. “You can buy the property and hold those lots until down the road, when the market is faster, and sell them then,” he suggests. In 2006, three St. Charles houses sold for over $2 million, according to the Multiple Listing Service; so far, in 2007, there have been none. “That part of the market is very slow right now,” Jordan admits.
Listing Agent: Jeff Jordan, Re/Max Excels, (630) 262-4370
The Property: The developers Tim Lambert and Peter Delp of the Sheridan Park Group are converting a picturesque two-flat in Uptown into a spacious single-family home. Built in 1916, the place will have five bedrooms and a 640-square-foot living room (fashioned from three smaller rooms) with an original Arts and Crafts–style fireplace, as well as other period details preserved or replicated throughout. Complementing those vintage touches are such contemporary amenities as a second-floor laundry room and recessed lighting—which prompts Linda Kanoski, the project’s architect, to joke that, when finished in mid June, the home will feel “freshly historic.” And opening up the 5,300-square-foot living space should give this residence an airier feel: the interior staircase, for instance, becomes a showpiece of carpentry rather than a dim, self-contained passageway to the second-floor apartment.
The building is in the hot western section of Uptown, now known as Sheridan Park. While most of the buildings on the block—a mixture of old and new multifamily dwellings—go lot line to lot line, this place actually has some green space: its lot, which is big for the city, is 50 by 160 feet, while the building is only about 35 feet wide and 100 feet long. Uptown’s music venues and ethnic restaurants are a few blocks east, and Montrose Harbor is within walking distance.
Price Points: The developers acknowledge that their asking price puts them at the very top of the market for this neighborhood. Data from the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois show the highest price paid for a single-family home in Sheridan Park is $1.05 million, for a massive house from 1895, totally restored and a block down from this one. “But there’s a lot of value in all this space and a four-car garage,” Delp says. “We’re very positive about what’s happening in Uptown,” referring to the new Target store planned for Broadway and Montrose, and the other new construction and rehabs going on in this diverse neighborhood. For a buyer who’s willing to roam a bit north of the higher-priced Lake View, this roomy building’s blend of new and old could prove very appealing.
Listing Agent: Tim Lambert of KSGMAC, 312-343-1789
The Property: This 19th-century red brick house has been extensively—and, in some places, zanily—restored. The boldly painted cornice and entry only hint at the quirky details that William Lavicka, a longtime rehabber on Chicago’s West and South Sides, has included in his latest project. Inside, there is a mix of restored objects—four of the five fireplaces are originals, their ornate wood mantels stripped of years of paint—and salvaged architectural gems: a snazzy Art Deco tin ceiling in a chevron pattern in the kitchen and the basement party room. There are also some unconventional touches, such as the 12-foot sunflower stalk on the master bedroom ceiling that is actually a functioning heat conduit painted green; the flower’s petals are old ceiling-fan blades.
Lavicka, who has restored dozens of old city homes over the last 35 years, bought this one for $160,000 in October 2003, his first project in the Bronzeville neighborhood, which extends from the lakefront to the Dan Ryan Expressway between 26th and 51st Streets. “The whole first floor had been eaten out by termites and was about ready to cave in,” he says. “It needed a lot of work, and that’s what I do.” The house did have some great basic features, including eight-foot-tall windows in the main rooms, sturdy brick construction, and towering trees on the lot and nearby.
In addition to the extensive rebuilding, Lavicka put a new two-story addition on the rear of the house (for a breakfast room and the master bedroom). He also trimmed the house with his characteristic flair. The kitchen has onyx countertops with copper edging and a mural on the floor depicting all the planets. Upstairs bathrooms have glass fanlights with hand-painted scenes of the rising and setting sun. And the stairs to the backyard have bowling balls atop their newel posts instead of the customary wood knob. “A lot of this is my dad entertaining himself,” says Amber Lavicka who, although not a real-estate agent, is handling the sale for her father.
Price Points: The $899,000 price tag is high for the historical sections of Bronzeville, where the top sale price recorded so far by the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois is $705,500. (Some newly built homes on land formerly occupied by public housing and other structures have gone for more.) But the Lavickas aren’t concerned. “When you have something this unusual, you expect to wait for it to sell,” says Amber Lavicka. “We need to find the buyer who appreciates the care that’s been lavished on preserving it.” Adds her father: “I know that I’m above the game for the neighborhood, but they’re quickly catching up, so I put more money into it than I would have. I’m comfortable with that. You will rarely see a house as interesting as this.” Listing representative: Amber Lavicka: 312-927-2792
The Property: A converted coffee and tea showroom beneath an antique copper ceiling, this McKinley Park residence is that rarest of finds: a true industrial loft. “They’ve all disappeared,” says Mario Greco, the Rubloff agent representing the seller. With its great aged factory doors, original hardwood floors, and big storefront windows, the place has the requisite funky patina—but it’s also got such contemporary touches as concrete countertops and hanging glass shelves in the kitchen. The main floor is about 1,700 square feet, configured as one enormous main room with the kitchen at one end (there are also two full baths and a laundry room). The master bedroom (along with more open space) is perched on an L-shaped mezzanine, and there is a small terrace off the back of the kitchen and a grassy public playground across the alley. The 1,100-square-foot basement, unfinished and with no windows, could easily be turned into workspace or a cavernous family room. There is one indoor and one outdoor parking space.
The seller, Dan Delany, bought the space five years ago, when Bridgeport, the neighborhood that lies just east of McKinley Park, had just begun to flourish. A consultant for not-for-profits, he has been spending more time in New York lately and has decided to sell.
Price Points: To get this much space on the North Side, you would easily pay twice the price. But to buy so low, you do have to give up some things. The building is on busy Archer Avenue (with a front-door view of the above-ground Stevenson Expressway), and the surrounding neighborhood is working class. Some potential buyers might find it hard to do without the hip boutiques and cafés, but there are thriving arts communities in Bridgeport and nearby Pilsen, and good restaurants in Chinatown, on South Oakley Avenue’s Italian strip, and in the South Loop. There is a grocery store and other shopping a block away; the buses, El trains, and expressways are close at hand; and you can make the trip into the Loop in less than five minutes. Listing Agent: Mario Greco, Rubloff, (773) 687-4696
List Price: $3.999 million
The Property: Formerly a machine-parts factory, this 10,000-square-foot structure on a residential block in Roscoe Village is being converted into a lavish, contemporary home, complete with a rooftop deck the size of some suburban back yards. When finished this summer, it will have six bedrooms, four fireplaces, an elevator and some serious bling—including a bar in the master bathroom, an indoor lap pool enclosed in a glass booth, and a four-person guest shower.
“I stole a lot of ideas from Vegas,” says Spencer Forman, who is transforming the structure, built in 1943, with architectural plans by Atul Karkhanis of AK Architects. They’re going for the look of homes in Dwell magazine, the showcase of sleek, mostly minimalist contemporary designs. That’s evident in the long slit windows and a slender zen garden running along one side of the roof next to a metal privacy screen.
Both of those features are functional as well as timely. Because the building comes right out to its lot line, passersby would be able to look into the house through conventional windows. But here, the windows start at seven feet above ground; they bring in light and sound but block prying eyes. “You can walk around naked in here and nobody sees,” Forman says. And the linear zen garden creates a setback in front of the privacy screen so the building doesn’t appear to tower over the street.
Price Points: At $3.999 million, the house showcases premium touches, such as computerization that controls lights, heat and plasma screens; and a heated car wash in the four-car garage. And yet Metra tracks pass immediately to its east and El tracks run four doors west. Even with triple-brick construction and insulated windows, the place will be noisy at times. Then again, Forman is hoping to sell it to a pro athlete or some other celebrity—who likely would fill the place with noisy friends anyway. After all, they’ll have to make some use of that four-person shower.
The Property: Designed by the great North Shore architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, this home was built in 1913 as one half of a pair of twin gatehouses for a lavish lakefront estate on Sheridan Road. When the present sellers, Tierney Danehy and Tom McNulty, bought the place in 1995, it had been severed from the estate house (which still stands) and was being rented out, with two apartments upstairs and four two-car garage bays on the main floor. “It was great space that we could turn into whatever we wanted,” says Danehy.
Danehy and McNulty put a large living/dining room in two bays and a kitchen/great room in the other two bays, with a staircase between the rooms. (They replaced the garage doors with sliding doors.) Upstairs, they put four bedrooms, two baths, a laundry room, and a den in what had been two servants’ apartments and some additional space above their new two-car garage. The couple also preserved many of Shaw’s touches, such as an elaborate rope molding below the eaves and the two-toned brickwork inside the house. (The two exterior staircases that used to lead to the apartments are still there, although they are only decorative now.) When adding new details, such as exterior door entablature, the couple and their architect, Lesa Rizzolo, did an excellent job of staying in touch with the character of the original structure.
Price Points: With its Sheridan Road address, its views into a wooded estate, and a lot that is more than a third of an acre, this home is a prize. But its floor plan will not appeal to someone who is shopping for an impressive center-entry house; it is a warm and appealing home, but light on grandeur. The price tag is in keeping with Glencoe, where two thirds of the 89 homes that sold there over the past year went for more than a million dollars.
Listing Agent: The homeowner, Tierney Danehy (of Village Green Realty), is handling the sale: 847-501-4300.
The Property: A duplex in a classic 1920s Gold Coast building designed by Andrew Rebori, this five-room, two-bedroom apartment manages to create elegance in an economical space. Except for the dramatic two-story living room—with a charming fireplace inglenook, a sensuously curved staircase, and big windows looking out onto Schiller Street—the rooms are relatively small, though not cramped. “These apartments [in the building] are all like movie sets,” says Louise Trafelet, pointing to the interior balconies and the Jazz Age plaster detailing. Three years ago, Trafelet and her husband, Dan, moved in and revived this unit, shoehorning all the requisite appliances into the kitchen and the master and guest baths. Now they plan to move into the unit next door, which badly needs help.
Price Points: The home is one of 18 apartments in the building, each originally intended as in-town getaways, primarily for residents of the North Shore. If you have priced one of the hotel-condo units popping up around the city, you may want to take a look at this place. It doesn’t offer room service or other luxury amenities, but at this price—and with this location—it would be hard to find something with more élan. As a full-time home, it might be a bit small for more than a single person—or a couple without much stuff.
The Property: Designed in the late 1920s by Scipione Del Campo for John Tiberi (the owner of a cement company), this 12-room brick house on the city’s Far Southwest Side resembles Tiberi’s boyhood home in Italy. While its blond good looks would stand out in any neighborhood, the house literally rises above its neighbors because its basement was built at ground level and then the yard was backfilled up to the house’s first floor.
The interior craftwork elegantly complements the house’s exterior. Most of the doorways are arched, a plaster mantel in the main-floor study is as ornate as anything in a Renaissance chapel, and the passage from the master bedroom to the sitting area is framed by two twisted columns that suggest a Venetian palazzo. The house has four other bedrooms, a sauna and a wine cellar in the basement, and a fountain in the back yard.
The extensive murals and other interior decorations—all meticulously maintained—have not stopped the current owners from treating the house as a home. “We’ve never lived as if this were a museum,” says Mari-Ellyn Morreale, whose family has lived in the house for 21 years after buying the place from Tiberi’s estate. (Her husband, Phillip Morreale, is a doctor at Little Company of Mary Hospital). To make her point, she shows where her three children threw darts, drew on walls, and stowed their sports equipment as they were growing up.
Price Points: The $1.4-million asking price far exceeds Beverly’s record sale of $850,000 (according to records of the Multiple Listing Service of Northern Illinois). Its kitchen and breakfast room (a later addition) are dated and surprisingly modest—but because they share none of the house’s interior detailing, adding a new kitchen would not harm the overall design.
The Property: What used to be a contemporary flat-roofed house is now a sophisticated French château with a gracious mansard roof sheltering a new second story. The makeover is the work of Don and Jan Zordani, the husband-and-wife team behind Milestone Development. They began, says Don, with an “extremely dark” 40-year-old wood-and-brick house situated on more than two acres overlooking Lake Michigan. They transformed it into an airy six-bedroom home, complete with a two-story living room that opens onto a view of the lake below. They also updated the plumbing and added a tower, an elevator, 13 dormers, a 1,500-bottle wine cellar, and a wood-paneled library. The first and second floors encompass about 5,700 square feet of space. The basement has another 3,000 square feet, though much of it isn’t really below ground; the original builder scooped out a big bowl of land so that people could walk out of the house’s lower level—a design decision that forever altered the lakefront bluff’s natural formation.
Price Points: Along with its classic good looks, this quintessentially North Shore house is one of only a half-dozen homes on a quiet, almost secret Lake Forest street. But a new neighbor is on the way: the Zordanis are working on another house a few doors down that, when finished, will be larger, more lavish—and priced at nearly $15 million.
Listing agent: The appropriately named Linda Landsell, Coldwell Banker, 847-302-5654
The Property: When the Northbrook developer Greg Weissman built on these two neighboring lots in Highland Park, he decided to go as green as he could while still building houses that would appeal to the upper-end North Shore market. Designed by Nate Kipnis (see “A Place in the Sun,” Deal Estate, April 2007), each house has four bedrooms, four baths, and lots of green amenities. The slate roofs are actually made of rubber and plastic that are 90 percent postindustrial content; the homes are well insulated and geothermally heated and cooled; and a storage tank beneath the front yard collects rain water for use in the yards’ drip-irrigation system. The houses have no carpeting (to soothe dust allergies), and the paints and other finishes are low in volatile organic compounds. Building the houses necessitated taking down a century-old oak; Weissman had it milled into front doors and mantelpieces for both houses.
Price Points: Weissman says the green features add about $100,000 to the cost of each house—he hasn’t calculated the potential savings on utility bills—but that he is hoping to attract buyers who share his environmental principles. “This is the way everything is going now,” he says. “Doing the right thing environmentally actually matters.”
The Property: This rugged stone and cedar retreat hidden away on nine wooded acres is just minutes from downtown St. Charles. The place has a bulky exterior—a massive pyramidal wood shingle roof and deeply recessed window and door openings—but inside it lightens up, with an open floor plan, soaring ceilings, and an outsized skylight. Built in 1978, the 6,259-square-foot residence has four bedrooms, five-plus baths, and five fireplaces; the place also has a tennis court and a pool. “That big a house was unheard of [in the 1970s],” says Jeff Jordan, the Re/Max Excels agent listing the house for its sellers. While he declined to name them—and Kane County records do not identify them—Jordan says that they have been in the house for about twenty years, and that they updated the kitchen in 2005. 
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