List Price: $899,000

The Property: This 2,400-square-foot home is one of six condominiums in an ornate 1878 building that originally housed Grant’s Seminary for Young Ladies. It was built by the same bequest that built the Newberry Library a block north.

On its main floor, one flight up from the sidewalk, the three-story condo has a very large and lavishly paneled living room with a dining bay that overlooks the tree-shaded street. (There is also a powder room on that level.) Down one flight, at ground level, are the kitchen, a family room, a bedroom, and a bath; two more bedrooms and two baths occupy the third floor. (The condo has been serving as an office, so my photos don’t show much in the way of bedrooms; they all have desks and chairs in them.) On top of the four-story building is an enormous shared deck with urban views north to the Newberry and south all the way to Two Prudential Plaza.

The condo’s kitchen and all but one bath need updating. Harold Blum, one of the agents representing the property, notes that a kitchen redesign could incorporate most or all of the family room and bedroom on that floor to create a large cooking, dining, and gathering great room. “You could have a unique casual space here, separate from the formal living and dining area upstairs,” he says.

The tall windows and 14-foot ceilings on the living floor and ten-foot ceilings one flight up are some of the best features of the original interior; the extensive millwork, including the large crown moldings, suggests the place’s vintage. The seller is the former Harpo Entertainment president Jeff Jacobs, whose current home is a lavishly restored historical gem overlooking Lincoln Park. (I wrote about that home, on the market for $5.75 million, in the magazine’s May issue; lest you get the idea that I am engaged in a sell-off of Jacobs’s Chicago properties, I approached the agents on today’s property, toured it, and shot the video before I knew who the seller was). A buyer has a contract on the condo, but with contingencies; the property is still available for sale.

Price Points: The property’s asking price, initially $999,000, was cut to $899,000 in March. Another condo in the building, with updated kitchen and baths, is on the market at $995,000.

Listing Agent: Baird & Warner’s Robert John Anderson (773-697-5555) and Harold Blum (312-498-2015)