List Price: $2.49 million
The Property: This new 21-room house in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood narrows as it goes back to maximize the entry of daylight into family spaces. Handsomely outfitted inside and out with modern finishes that always stay on the preferred side of the line between…
List Price: $2.49 million
The Property: This new 21-room house in Chicago’s Old Irving Park neighborhood narrows as it goes back to maximize the entry of daylight into family spaces. Handsomely outfitted inside and out with modern finishes that always stay on the preferred side of the line between good-looking and ostentatious, the house is nevertheless considerably bigger than its residential neighbors.
“We really enjoyed doing all the details, everything just as nice as we could make it,” says Anna Gutkowska, who handled most of the interior design with her partner at AP Development, Peter Piechnik. (Gutkowska is also the listing agent.) They filled the house with nice touches, including the fan-shaped front steps, the enormous two-story foyer, and the rusticated wood cabinets and sunken soaking tub in the outsized master bath.
Gutkowska says that they designed the multidormered, brick, stone and copper exterior to blend in with the neighborhood’s older homes. “But,” she adds, “inside we wanted it to feel much more modern.” The house has about 9,700 square feet of living space, which includes the basement, with its workout room, an unfinished home theatre, and a big rec room with a wet bar. The kitchen, breakfast room, and family room have a combined 1,100 square feet of space; the homey kitchen has random-width wood floors, a sleek stone fireplace wall, and lots of sunlight.
The house has six bedrooms, five fireplaces, a naturally cooled brick wine room in the basement, and on the second floor—here’s something I haven’t seen before—a laundry room with its own balcony. (You can also get to the balcony via a pair of French doors off the hallway.)
Price Points: The house’s asking price of $2.49 million dwarfs the general price range in Old Irving Park, where the majority of single-family homes sell for $675,000 or below, according to @Properties’ Market Report. The report shows that there have been several $1 million-plus sales since 2005, but none over $2 million. Gutkowska says that a newly built home a block away went under contract in December for somewhere between $2.85 million and $2.9 million, but that deal hasn’t shown up in records yet.
Listing Agent: Anna Gutkowska of @Properties, 773-865-2141; annag@atproperties.com