May 28, 2009
On the Market
On the Market: Rehabbed Richardsonian Romanesque—Lake View
List Price: $1.45 million
The Property: When two doctors, Chuck Sisung and Fred Hoff, bought this Lake View graystone in 1992, its Richardsonian Romanesque façade, which dated to 1882, was in good shape. The home’s interior, however, was in poor condition, so Sisung and Hoff launched a two-year renovation that included adding a two-story glass conservatory to the back of the house. That addition contains a sitting room or family room on the main level and a breakfast area and a kitchen on the ground level (an electric dumbwaiter carries food from the kitchen up to the formal dining room).
The conservatory was just one part of the renovation. An original staircase, with woodwork cut in an intricately detailed lace pattern, was painstakingly restored. Beadboard from two bedroom ceilings was reused to give the master bath a wood-paneled Edwardian look. Other subtle touches included installing refurbished antique doorknobs and hinges and duplicating some extant vintage molding from the foyer in the double parlor, which now serves as the living room. (The rear wall of the second parlor is four feet thick, which leaves room for air-conditioning ducts and other utilities without intrusive soffits.)
Some details that look like originals—the plaster ceiling medallions in the living room and the tin ceiling in the kitchen—are actually new. Even the new two-car garage looks old, thanks to the Chicago common brick and antique multipanel windows used in its construction.
In 1992, the house had five small bedrooms, Sisung says. The house currently has three bedrooms, with a big library next to the master bedroom, but it could be reconfigured as a four-bedroom layout. There are four-plus bathrooms.
Price Points: Wanting to spend more time on their Michigan farm, Sisung and Hoff listed the house for sale in October 2008 at $1.599 million. Sisung declined to say what he and Hoff paid for the house in 1992 (public records do not indicate the sale price in that transaction), nor would he reveal how much they spent to renovate the home.
Listing Agent: Suzi Bramson of Rubloff, 312-368-5393; sbramson@rubloff.com.
Posted at 11:57 AM in On the Market | Permalink
Email
Print
del.icio.us
digg
yahoo!
Comments
Feed
Comments to this blog are moderated. We review them in an effort to remove foul language, commercial messages, and irrelevancies.