List Price: $1.390 million
The Property: In 2004, a builder put up seven new cedar-sided houses and a mini-riverwalk on the former site of a boat storage yard on the North Branch of the Chicago River a few blocks north of Irving Park Road. Each of the homes has views of the water and of Horner Park.

Lori Erickson and Jean Cueva, the first people to buy one of the homes, picked the place that arguably has a significant edge on its sisters. Because it is at the north end of the development, next to a narrow strip of community prairie garden, it’s the only one with a side view as well as a rear view. (The southernmost house is next to a commercial building.) The siting also mitigates a problem the other houses have: front doors that are midway down a long side of the house, sort of a constricted way to enter such charming residences. At today’s house, the adjacent green space creates a more open entry experience.

As you will see in the video, the house has a formal dining room and a living room with a cathedral ceiling. But residents and guests will most likely be drawn to the back of the house, where a combined kitchen and family room look past a large deck to the river. This space has a large kitchen island, a butler’s pantry, maple floors, and a stacked stone fireplace. Erickson and Cueva finished the home with several Mission-style light fixtures that complement the home’s exterior. Upstairs are three bedrooms, including a spacious master bedroom with a big bathroom and its own river view. There are two more bedrooms and a second family room in the basement.

Erickson and Cueva are downsizing, says their agent, Millie Rosenbloom, who was also the agent for the developer of the homes. She says that the seven houses were the first new single-family homes built on the North Side’s riverfront in at least 50 years. While they occupy what was once a commercial parcel of land, the houses abut a residential area. And as you will see from my pictures below, the local welcoming committee includes some feathered neighbors.

Price Points: Public records do not indicate what Cueva and Erickson originally paid for the house, and Rosenbloom declined to say. Another home in the string of seven is on the market. Because it is situated between two neighbors, it has significantly less of the north light and openness of today’s property—though it’s worth noting that all seven houses have skylights, interior transoms, and other details that help spread daylight throughout their interiors.

Listing Agent: Millie Rosenbloom of Baird & Warner; 312-980-1517 or millie.rosenbloom@bairdwarner.com