List Price: $1.149 million
The Property: Behind the dignified 103-year-old façade of this Logan Square greystone stands a contemporary interior by the ultra-stylish Funke Architects. Its most dramatic element is a hanging staircase of steel, glass, and maple. It floats beneath a rooftop pop-up of clerestory windows that let daylight cascade all the way to the basement, creating a far lighter mood than the characteristically dark interior of a historical greystone.

That lightness carries through the three-story structure. The main floor is an airy layout of formal and informal spaces, including a sleek kitchen with espresso-stained cabinets and glass fronts. The master bedroom spans the width of the rear of the house and has oversized windows that frame a neighborhood view. The basement, formerly a dank, low-ceilinged place, has been dug out to make the ceilings a livable height. It now includes a rear office with a walkout terrace.

In 2003, Kaveh Zamanian and Heather Bass, both psychologists, bought the greystone from a family that had owned it for nine decades. They paid $450,000 for what they now characterize as a rundown two-flat. They signed on with Funke to design a completely new interior that has four bedrooms and three-plus baths; they also cleaned and restored the exterior. The house, which has a new two-car garage, sits on an extra-wide lot—30 feet, as compared to the city standard of 25—and broad, tree-lined Logan Boulevard lies only half a block away.
           
Price Points: Zamanian and Bass listed the house in January for $1,249,000. On Monday, February 11th, they cut their asking price to $1,149,000. Two homes sold in Logan Square for over $1 million in 2007; both were new construction and lacked the old-line character of this one’s façade. (One, in fact, was bulbous and ostentatious.) Most of the neighboring houses are in less pristine condition than this one.

Listing Agent: Mike Vesole, @properties, (773) 454-4714; mikevesole@atproperties.com