List Price: $1,879,000
Sale Price: $1,879,000
The Property: The brick, limestone, and wood façade of this Queen Anne-style home is a flirting coquette among matrons on an east Lincoln Park block where the neighbors are all fine homes, but not as confidently decorative as this one. From its painted wooden gable front and cornice supports down through the carved limestone tablets above some windows and a hefty wood-and-glass front door, the exterior is enlivened by an array of textures and colors.

Inside, the seduction continues. Built in 1895, the house has ten rooms on three floors, plus a three-bedroom rental unit on the top floor. The four-bedroom owner’s unit has many intact period details—such as pocket doors and built-in hutches in the dining room—that mingle with high-end updating, such as a well-equipped kitchen. The sellers also excavated the floor of the basement in a renovation, resulting in a nine-foot ceiling for the rooms there.

Price Points: The sellers, Orjan and Catherine Odelbo, who bought this house in August 2001 for $1,545,000, put the home on the market in April 2007 with an asking price of $1,889,000, says their agent, Marlene St. George. By August, when it hadn’t sold, “they decided to stay in it,” she says, and took it off the market. But a few weeks later, buyers who had seen the house when it was on the market reappeared and made a low-ball offer.

St. George then had to not only encourage the buyers to bring their price up, but keep them interested while she found a new home for her sellers. This was not an easy task since the Odelbos wanted to move into a particular condo building three blocks from this one, and they wanted to buy two adjacent units there that they could combine. Ultimately, St. George got all three transactions lined up, and the deal closed December 27th.

Buyers: Not yet identified in public records
Listing Agent: Marlene St. George, Baird & Warner, (312) 640-7010