Walk through and see the artful touches thoughout the house, all the way to the third floor daylit loft space. Click here for a larger version.

The backyard features a view of the neighborhood pond.

Doorways on the first floor of the houseare crowned with sculputural wood shells.

List Price: $4.9 million
The Property: You will be forgiven if, when approaching this new house in Hinsdale, you wonder whether they hauled it over from England in pieces or already assembled. The rough-hewn stone façade, the sheltered entry vestibule with timber beams and a beadboard ceiling, and the mammoth front doors made of glass and wrought iron all suggest that this house has a history that predates its recent construction.

The builder Nick Pancotto and the architecture firm Caprio/Prisby collaborated on this 18-room manor house, deftly making it grand without crossing the line to grandiose. The house impresses both with its big ideas—the basement feels like an above-ground space because its windows look out on a big sunken garden—and its small details: the seemingly decorative corbels flanking the kitchen cooktop slide out to provide storage space for spices. Even the occasional indulgence—the marble frames around the bathroom mirrors, for instance—don’t offend; they are relatively restrained given the gaudy embarrassments they might have become.

As you will see in my video tour, the house has lots of artful touches. The moldings are particularly nice in the main living rooms, where each door is crowned with a sculptural wood shell. The winding staircase is gorgeous—and the kitchen island is almost big enough to be part of Hawaii. The layout also meshes indoor and outdoor spaces nicely: the walnut-paneled library has its own front yard, a screened three-season room adjoins the family room, and a large crenellated rooftop terrace off the master suite offers lordly views over the backyard to a neighborhood pond. There is even a sizable daylit loft space at the top of the house—where a century ago mansions like this one would have typically had a ballroom.

Price Points: Hinsdale is no stranger to $4 million–plus sales. There have been eight in town since 2005, according to Midwest Real Estate Data. This year, however, the single sale in that premium class was, at $4.2 million, the lowest priced of the eight deals. The most expensive sale, at $5.2 million, came last year.

Listing Agent: Ann Pancotto, ERA Jensen & Feinstein Realtors, 630-522-2084