New on the Market – Glencoe Gatehouse

List price: $1.399 million 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 … Read more

Housing Bulletin – They Might Be Giants

Last week, two real-estate projects in the Chicago tradition of “make no little plans” took some giant steps forward, as both plans won approval from the city’s Plan Commission. One is the ongoing proposal to build a twisting 150-story condo tower-the architect Santiago Calatrava’s Chicago Spire-just north of the Chicago River and west of Lake … Read more

Sale of the Week – Lindenhurst

List price: $224,900Sale price: $220,000 The Property: On April 11th-the day before this five-room house sold for $220,000-the National Association of Realtors (NAR) forecast that the national median price for an existing home in 2007 will be $220,300. If that prediction holds up, it means that half the houses sold this year will go for … Read more

New on the Market – Gold Coast, Chicago

Update: The property has been taken off the market; the Trafelets are negotiating a private sale. List price: $649,000 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 … Read more

Housing Bulletin – Real-Estate Agent Parking Permits

For people whose job demands that they park all over the city, there may be nothing more frustrating than hunting for a parking space in a permit-zoned Chicago neighborhood. A potential solution to that problem isn’t working-most likely because of tinkering by city hall. Permit-zone parking started on the Northwest Side in 1979 in the … Read more

Sale of the Week – Oak Lawn

List price: $569,000Sale price: $569,000 The Property: This newly built 11-room, five-bedroom house set the sales record for Oak Lawn when it was sold on April 6th. It is on the same street as-and within two blocks of-this southwest suburb’s two previous top sales. The developer Timothy Desmond of Leeside Builders built all three of … Read more

New on the Market – Beverly, Chicago

List price: $1.4 million 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 … Read more

Sale of the Week – Gold Coast gem

Neighborhood: Gold Coast, ChicagoList price: $12 millionSale price: $11 million The Property: This imposing stone mansion-23 rooms in all-is a relic of Lake Shore Drive’s early days as an avenue dotted with opulent single-family homes. Built in 1890 in the Richardsonian Romanesque style, the house declined in the 20th century. When he bought it in … Read more

New on the Market – Lake Forest

List price: $11.495 million 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 … Read more