Chicago is studded with landmarks by world-famous architects, from Henry Hobson Richardson’s Glessner House to Bruce Graham’s Willis Tower. Yet the fabric of the city was spun by those whose names never made the history books. Count Harold M. Hansen among them. The Norwegian immigrant’s Chicago projects included a clutch of row houses in Old Town, one of which — his own — was recently on the market (and purchased) for just under $1.5 million.

Hansen, who at one time headed the architecture department at the University of Illinois, trained in Europe and worked for a year in the office of skyscraper trailblazer William Le Baron Jenney before launching his own firm in 1871. In the mid-1880s, he designed 12 residences along Eugenie and Wells Streets. His, at 164 West Eugenie, is one of five that remain from the nine that lined the block once known as Pill Row, because of all the doctors who lived there, including renowned eye surgeon Harry Gradle.

In the 3,000-square-foot, three-floor Hansen residence, substantial and beautifully detailed millwork — including pocket doors, interior window shutters, and a highly ornamented fireplace — punctuate the public rooms. Other historic touches are ceiling medallions, gas lamp sconces, and decorative windows by Giannini & Hilgart, whose clients were also Frank Lloyd Wright and the South Loop’s Second Presbyterian Church. The former ballroom on the third floor was converted into two of the four bedrooms, along with a sitting room with access to a rooftop space.

After Hansen died in 1922, his two daughters remained in the house for years. It seems the place has a hold on those who live there: It hasn’t been on the market since 2003. Forever home, anyone?