| Deal Estate: A Franglish Manor in Highland ParkTue, 16 Dec 2008 22:27:31 -0800 by chicagomagThe Property: With its mix of crisp, orderly limestone on the lower walls and rusticated stucco and half timbers above, this mansion, built in 1927, isnt sure whether its French or English. But instead of feeling confused, the eclectic exterior makes an apt container for whats inside: a 13-room collection of materials and craftwork from different phases of its life that manage to fit together very nicely. Related: real estate deal highland park dennis rodkin | |
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| Deal Estate: Letting Go in Chicagos St. Bens NeighborhoodThu, 04 Dec 2008 12:28:26 -0800 by chicagomagA collaborative effort between the architect Nate Kipnis and a pair of clients dissatisfied with the houses they had seen on the market, this three-bedroom home has an abundance of environmentally friendly features and a distinctly family-style floor plan. The house, which has a green roof, thickly insulated walls and windows, and a layout that maximizes natural ventilation and daylight, was completed this past June in the Northwest Side neighborhood that is alternately known as St. Bens and Bell School District. But even before they moved in, the couple who had commissioned the home had accepted an out-of-state job transfer. Related: deal estate real dennis rodkin chicago magazine illinois house green | |
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| Deal Estate: You Can Ring My Bell, in Irving ParkTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:33:26 -0800 by chicagomagList price: $975,000The Property: While searching for a home, Zbigniew and Beata Banas became accidental developers. They found a property they liked—a shuttered church in the Irving Park neighborhood on Chicago’s Northwest Side—but the building, a simple peaked structure with a spire piercing its roof, proved far too large for just one residence. So the Banases split the church in half. They are now living in the rear portion and selling the front, which Beata, a professional space planner, has transformed into a visually striking 5,000-square-foot space. Related: chicago magazine deal estate real dennis rodkin | |
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| Deal Estate: Vintage Modern in Lake ViewTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:32:52 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $2.49 millionThe Property: On the outside it's a crisp and reserved brick and limestone structure from the 1920s. But inside, this former three-flat, now a 4,000-square-foot single-family home, is totally 21st century. That modern aesthetic begins in the foyer with the lighted acrylic partial wall in the foyer, continues on to the sleek wood, glass, and metal kitchen, and moves up to the soft cork floors in the master bedroom. One particularly artful touch is a screen wall beside the main stairs: its reedy, angled lines suggest bamboo, but it’s actually made of electrical conduit. Related: chicago magazine deal estate real | |
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| Deal Estate: Two $9-Million North Shore Sales in Two Days: WilmetteTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:32:13 -0800 by chicagomagThe Properties: July started off with a bang on the North Shore, and that’s not a reference to the many fireworks displays hosted by towns and country clubs. Two separate lakefront mansions sold for stratospheric prices: on July 1st, a Kenilworth estate went for $9,710,913, and two days later, one in Wilmette went for $9 million. The Kenilworth property is a veritable Lake Michigan resort, complete with 2.2 acres of gardened grounds, a tennis court and tennis house, and an indoor pool. Situated at the end of a private lane off Sheridan Road, the 13-room mansion, built in the 1920s in an English country style, has been added onto—most notably with a very long room for the pool that parallels the shoreline—creating a secluded entry courtyard through which a gravel path leads to the main entryway. The house was listed for sale in January by the estate of William Graham, who had lived there for more than 30 years before his death in January 2006 at age 94. Graham headed the Deerfield medical company Baxter International—as CEO from 1953 to 1980, and as chairman from 1971 to 1985. Graham was a generous philanthropist who gave millions to the University of Chicago, the Lyric Opera, Xavier University, and other organizations. “It’s always been a question of what I can do to make the best contribution,” he told me in an interview in 1997. I was not able to reach anyone connected with Graham’s estate about the sale. The agent who sold the property, Coldwell Banker’s Barbara Mawicke, would say only that the buyers (whom she would not identify) have not expressed any intent to subdivide the land. The Wilmette mansion is a sumptuous 1939 stone structure on more than an acre of shoreline property behind stone and iron gates on a short street of mansions. The 15-room house has views of the lake from almost every room and has been renovated and updated since July 2000. That’s when the present sellers, Dennis and Diane Field, bought the place, for $4.75 million, from the heirs of Louis and Bobbe Goldblatt (of the department store family), who had owned the estate since 1967. At the time, Diane Field told me she planned comprehensive renovations, which would include creating living and entertaining space in the cavernous basement, re-positioning the kitchen to be central to the flow of the rooms, and opening up the dated, blocky floor plan. Field did not respond to my phone calls about the latest sale, for which she was both seller (with her husband) and agent. But the listing sheet for the property that she distributed indicates that while they owned the estate, the Fields upgraded the house’s plumbing, mechanical, and electrical systems, installed an elevator, and renovated the kitchen and six-plus bathrooms. Price Points: These are the highest prices paid for homes in the Chicago area since the $11-million sale of a Gold Coast mansion on Lake Shore Drive 16 months ago. (Two other North Shore estates, in Lake Bluff and Highland Park, were sold in the interim, for $16 million and $17.6 million, but they were both bought by a developer who plans to subdivide the land, so I have excluded them from the ranks of home sales.) Do these tandem super-luxury sales signal a revival of the local real-estate market? “I doubt it,” says Julie Deutsch, a prominent North Shore agent for Coldwell Banker with many high-end sales in her portfolio. “We still have a lot of multimillion-dollar homes that have been on the market a long time.” These two sales, she said, are good news, but “they don’t indicate that anything is changing right now.” Neither buyer has yet been identified in public records.Kenilworth Listing Agent: Barbara Mawicke of Coldwell Banker, 847-446-4500Wilmette Listing Agent: Diane Field of Coldwell Banker, 847-446-4000 Related: the blog real estate deal | |
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| Super Bowl MumbleTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:29:32 -0800 by chicagomagA parody of the Super Bowl Shuffle by human beatbox artist Yuri Lane (yurilane.com) and Chicago magazine (www.chicagomag.com) writer Jeff A parody of the Super Bowl Shuffle by human beatbox artist Yuri Lane (yurilane.com) and Chicago magazine (www.chicagomag.com) writer Jeff Ruby. The song, an homage to the '06 Chicago Bears, was recorded at Shirk Music & Sound (www.shirkmusic.com) in Chicago; the video was recorded in Ruby's kitchen. Related: chicago magazine super bowl mumble | |
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| Steak ManTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:29:15 -0800 by chicagomagThe adventures of Steak Man, a project by Jeff Rudy of Chicago magazine Related: none | |
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| Deal Estate: Spacious Cape Cod in WilmetteTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:28:58 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $1,099,000The Property: Unlike ostentatious new houses that flaunt their thousands of square feet with soaring roofs and phallic turrets, this Cape Cod style house in Wilmette is a classic 1950s exercise in self-restraint, with a taupe exterior and a sheltered porch. The broad, low-hanging roof suggests a modest house huddles beneath, but, in fact, there are six bedrooms, a sizable living room, and, including the basement, about 3,500 square feet of space in all. Related: deal estate real house wilmette the blog | |
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| Deal Estate: Prairie Glass in Oak ParkTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:28:28 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $990,000The Property: Eben Ezra Roberts, who designed some 200 buildings in Oak Park, was the architect of this 100-year-old residence (known as the Charles Schwerin House), as well as its neighbor (the Charles F. Lorenzen House). Roberts fronted this house with a broad, shading porch and an enlarged, round-topped dormer. Inside, the main floor is filled with fine original craftwork, including vintage glass light fixtures, a tile mosaic floor, lots of handsome woodwork, and four different patterns of art glass that ornament the windows and interior doors. Related: real estate magazine deal the blog | |
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| Deal Estate: People in Glass Houses, NorthfieldTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:27:37 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $3.995 millionThe Property: A contemporary architectural landmark, this all-glass house in Northfield, the 2002 design of and the current home of the architect Tom Roszak won national recognition from the American Institute of Architects in 2007 and Architectural Digest in 2005. Roszak, an avowed modernist who has built several glassy condo projects in downtown Chicago and Evanston, designed this house as a sort of prototype for an idea he had. As Roszak envisioned it, a young couple could build a few connected glass cubes, for the kitchen, the living room, and the bedroom, and then add more cubes as their family and budget grew. Related: chicago deal estate real magazine | |
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| Passage to India in GlenviewTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:26:36 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $4,495,000The Property: At this 7,000-square-foot house in Glenview, a pair of large, intricately carved front doors made of sagwan wood open into a granite-floored foyer illuminated by a crystal chandelier. While the chandelier is Austrian, the wood and the granite are from India, as are the home’s owners, Bal Singh and his wife, Mira Trivedi. The couple collaborated with their Indian architect in designing the six-bedroom house; in the case of one major feature, a grand spiral staircase, they also helped in the redesign. Related: chicago deal estate real magazine | |
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| Open Season in the South LoopTue, 02 Dec 2008 08:26:15 -0800 by chicagomagList Price: $2.25 millionThe Property: Openness is the watchword at this sprawling penthouse on the 34th floor of a five-year-old South Loop condo tower. It applies to the dramatic uncovered fireplace that showcases a string of open flame in the center of the main living space; to the wide-open views framed in windows on three sides; and even to the master shower and tub, which are open not only to the master bedroom but to any neighbors’ prying eyes that might spot them in a big wall of eastern windows. Related: chicago deal estate real magazine | |
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