Astor Street. Logan Boulevard. Alta Vista Terrace. Chicago isn’t short of Instagrammable districts with blocks of beautiful houses. Count Wicker Park’s West Caton Street among them. Graced with large residences in a variety of architectural styles, it was once home to successful Scandinavians, including Oslo-born seed merchant and banker Marius Kirkeby, whose Romanesque Revival house is on the market at just under $2.5 million.
Kirkeby was the father of A.S. Kirkeby, a hotel magnate whose portfolio included the Drake Hotel. (At one point, he owned Chartwell, the L.A. mansion used in the opening credits of The Beverly Hillbillies.) In 1906, the senior Kirkeby made the pages of The New York Times when questionable loans at the Milwaukee Avenue State Bank, where he was a director, led to a teller’s suicide and a near riot by angry depositors.
Built in 1891, the four-bedroom residence at 2138 West Caton was designed by Frederick Faber and William Pagels, a duo best known for Thalia Hall in Pilsen. Recently used as a location for the sci-fi show Dark Matter, the house occupies a double lot and is equipped with a two-car garage. Its 4,700 square feet combine rich, turn-of-the-century details — a hand-carved oak staircase with newel posts, leaded glass windows, three fireplaces — with updated kitchen and bathrooms and contemporary touches like gray cork wallpaper threaded with gold filaments. Hardwood floors, ceiling medallions, and large windows framed in handsome millwork add to the sense of substance that pervades the house. The primary bedroom features a walk-in closet and spa-like bathroom, a corner turret gives the first-floor living room and second-story office a certain architectural charm, and a small fireplace adorns the eat-in kitchen. Lutefisk, anyone?