More than a million Irish fled the old sod during the Great Famine. William F. McLaughlin was among them, but it wasn’t hunger that propelled him across the pond. Well-born and college-educated, McLaughlin, it seems, was just ambitious. He arrived in Chicago circa 1850 and, after working in the tea and spice business, hit it big starting McLaughlin’s Manor House Coffee. When his daughter Florence wed in the late 1890s, McLaughlin, whose son Frederic established the Blackhawks, built her an Italian Renaissance Revival–style residence on the Gold Coast that’s now on the market at just under $7 million.

Located at 1515 North State Parkway, the house was designed by MIT-trained Frederick W. Perkins, whose clients included meatpacking honcho Philip D. Armour Jr. and John G. Shedd, who took Marshall Field & Co. to great heights. In the 1940s, the house was turned into apartments, but it has been refreshed as a single-family residence of six bedrooms. A combination of original details and sympathetic additions gives the property a downright grand appearance. Handsomely carved woodwork encompasses the living room, dining room, and library. The seven fireplaces include one in a formal reception hall. High ceilings and a staircase graced with swirling ironwork add to the atmosphere.

Centuries-old stone flooring anchors the French-inflected kitchen. Two walk-in pantries, a sizable butler’s pantry, and a 900-bottle cellar make it easy to entertain here on a generous scale. At over 9,600 square feet, the house offers plenty of places to spread out, including a billiard room. In addition to two balconies, it boasts a second-floor garden terrace and a walled ground-level patio with a fountain. Your morning coffee will never taste better.