If you live in or near Chicago’s Buena Park, then you’re probably familiar with the Hutchinson Street District. Located between Marine Drive and Hazel Street, this two-block area takes you back to a time when single-family residences dominated this part of Uptown instead of the present day high-rises. When developers Francis T. Simmons and Charles U. Gordon opened the subdivision in the 1890s, they sold their newly built homes as “noticeable for handsome construction and diversified style.” That still holds true today with an amazingly intact collection of domestic architecture that runs the gamut from Queen Anne and Shingle Style to the European-influenced modernism of Prairie School architect George W. Maher, who designed five homes on the street. Three of his designs are currently on the market, as well as another non-Maher design located just around the corner. While you need deep pockets to even consider buying one of these multi-million dollar properties, it’s worth taking a look at these architectural gems that are considered to be true living works of art.
817 W Hutchinson St, $2,350,000
Maher’s last design on Hutchinson Street has been on and off the market for over a decade. Originally built in 1913 for jeweler Claude Seymour, the massive fifteen-room single-family residence (we’re talking 12,000 square feet of living space) has many original Arts & Crafts elements inside, including mahogany wood trim and arches, art glass windows, and an ornate carved staircase. The current asking price of $2.3 million (knocked down from a high of $5.6 million five years ago) reflects not just its historical value but the fact that the house sits on the equivalent of five city lots.
822 W Buena Ave, $2,300,000
Located just behind Claude Seymour’s impressive dwelling is another historic home commissioned by him a decade earlier in 1903. Like nearly all the single-family residences in this historic but densely packed area, the five-bedroom, five-bathroom dwelling is situated on a large lot with a rear coach house. In addition to the handsome brick exterior with ornamental trim and covered front porch, the inside is full of stunning original details such as a wood-accented ceiling and hardwood floors. There’s also a personal home gym in the basement and an attached greenhouse just off the kitchen.
750 W Hutchinson St, $3,299,000
The Sullivanesque-ornamented Edwin J. Mosser House, designed by Maher in 1902, spans six city lots with intact grounds created by landscape architect Jens Jensen (his original plans are still with the property), a reminder when Buena Park was “a suburb within the city.” The elegant sun room looks over this dense outdoor space full of trees and native plants, which is surrounded by an eight-foot solid wrought iron fence and gate supposedly fashioned by Maher himself for the World’s Columbian Exposition. Many of the cream-colored brick home’s museum-quality interior details were crafted by none other than designer Louis Millet, who is best known for the Tiffany stained glass dome inside the Chicago Cultural Center.
826 W Hutchinson St, $3,750,000
Two years after its construction in 1904, the National Builder declared that Maher’s “attention-worthy” William H. Lake House was “a little severe in its plainness, but is effective and in many ways attractive. It is a good model in simplicity.” On the market for the first time in nearly 25 years, the seven-bedroom, five-bathroom house has numerous intact features including Maher’s signature floral poppy motif. There is even an original hand-painted frieze in the library. The current owners purchased the lot to the east creating a half acre lot with fenced yard, potting shed, pergola, and gardens. This outdoor area, a picturesque park-like oasis in the middle of the city, was professionally landscaped by Hoerr Schaudt.