List Price: $1,249,000
Sale Price: $1,225,000

The Property: Though this eight-room house looks like a Roscoe Village old-timer, it’s actually been around for only seven years. “Part of the aesthetic I come from is to build new homes that are consistent with the architecture of the neighborhood,” says Ed Donley, the home’s architect, builder, owner, and resident. “You don’t have to build something that is jarring and upsets the existing character. You can have some regard for what’s there.” So Donley built this, four-bedroom house in the classic flat-front, single-gable style that is characteristic of Roscoe Village as well as many other Chicago neighborhoods. Plotting a move to be nearer South Side friends, Donley put the house on the market in May and saw it sell in a single day. The deal closed June 25th, with a sale price consistent with the cost of the newly constructed homes proliferating in central Roscoe Village.

Price Points: Though the house’s exterior acknowledges the city’s past, its interior is very up to date, with a spacious open floor plan and, despite its typically slim Chicago lot, lots of natural light. That is accomplished in part by a clever improvisation Donley devised for the kitchen: the upper cabinets are dummies with glass fronts and windows behind. As a result, light pours in from the narrow gangway, but the people inside don’t have to look out at the sheer wall of the neighboring home.

Buyers: Not yet identified in public records

Listing Agent: Tim Salm of Century 21 Sussex & Reilly, (312) 948-2555

Photographs: courtesy of Century 21 Sussex & Reilly