The Bertrand Goldberg 4-Bedroom Mid-Century Modern Is Still Available: 1310 Brassie in Flossmoor
We last chattered about this 4-bedroom Bertrand Goldberg designed mid-century modern ranch at 1310 Brassie in the south suburb of Flossmoor in June 2010.
See our prior chatter here.
Back in 2010, nearly all of you loved this house but either didn’t know where Flossmoor was or wondered how you’d get to the city from the location.
The house is just three blocks from downtown Flossmoor and the Metra.
Designed by famed architect Bertrand Goldberg in 1957 (he designed River City and Marina Towers in Chicago), it has many unique features for fans of the mid-century modern style.
If you recall, the home has stunning vaulted wood truss ceilings and a steel fireplace.
There are walls of thermopane glass throughout.
The kitchen is described as a chef’s kitchen with modern stainless steel appliances and white cabinets.
The house is built on a 149.5×190 lot and has a 2.5 car heated garage.
It has been reduced $50,000 since June 2010.
Will this house finally sell in 2012?
Joe Kunkel at Baird and Warner still has the listing. See more pictures here.
1310 N. Brassie: 4 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2.5 car garage, 2784 square feet
- Sold in July 2002 for $445,000
- Originally listed in August 2007 for $635,000
- Reduced several times
- Was listed in June 2010 for $485,000
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $435,000
- Taxes of $12,383 (were $11,786 in 2010)
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 16×12
- Bedroom #2: 15×10
- Bedroom #3: 12×11
- Bedroom #4: 11×10
Love love love it, and Flossmoor is even kind of convenient for me w/r/t relatives, rail, etc. It is a long way from the rest of our social engagements though, and maybe you are fighting a rearguard action there in general….
Thermopane, great, but is the roof insulated? That is a big volume to heat and cool. With the big yard (approaching “grounds”) this has to be an expensive place to own.
Still a really cool home. As Westloopelo said it could be quite nice with some touch ups for my style. Damn wrong neighborhood. If it were in P.R., Glenview, or one of my other favorites I’d be calling the movers.
“With the big yard (approaching “grounds”)”
It’s under 2/3s of an acre. Barely over half, once you deduct the house and garage.
“If it were in P.R., Glenview, or one of my other favorites I’d be calling the movers.”
uhhh- no you wouldn’t because it would be 600-800k!!!!
I’d even consider living in Flossmoor for this one.
Also, “Bertrand Goldberg: Architecture of Invention” is only SIX MORE DAYS at the Art Institute:
http://www.artic.edu/aic/exhibitions/exhibition/bertrandgoldberg
Plus, the museum is free most weekdays this month.
This house is actually somewhat beautiful. Most of Goldberg’s stuff is atrociously ugly, like River City, those housing projects on State near Cermak, and Marina Towers (also butt ugly). I guess it’s hard to screw up a ranch. When goldberg goes vertical it gets horrendous fast!
I love the way people are fooled by something because of perceived lifestyle!!! They imagine how “awesome” their life would be if they lived in this “cool” space (the cool parties, the great mood they would be in every night when they came home) and they don’t realize how impractical this house is for everyday living…… Just take note of everyone’s responses and play up to that fantasy when you go to sell your own home – it obviously works…
for just a little more money, wouldn’t you rather have this?:
Actually, I am just kidding – but I am INCREDIBLY shocked at the numbers of houses that went under contract in the past few DAYS (yeah, I was shocked about the last two weeks of december, but this is ridiculous). Does anyone have data on contract activity for the past week? What is going on?
During a nice Spring day, it’s not a bad day trip to Flossmoor from downtown.
Go to the Art Institute or something in the morning. Take the Metra down to Flossmoor. Note the brew house right at the station. Walk 10 minutes from the station to this Bertrand Goldberg. Spend 2+ hours walking around the nice neighborhood. Drink and eat at the brew house. Jump on the Metra back to the city. easy peasey
note that Taxes in Flossmoor are $$$
“Most of Goldberg’s stuff is atrociously ugly, like River City, those housing projects on State near Cermak, and Marina Towers (also butt ugly). I guess it’s hard to screw up a ranch. When goldberg goes vertical it gets horrendous fast!”
Its all personal opinion, but what can’t be ignored is the unbridled success that each of those buildings have had during their lives (until River City made the condo conversion anyways)… and the incredible economy at which they were built.
“It’s under 2/3s of an acre. Barely over half, once you deduct the house and garage.”
Still enough space for a giraffe. Something about this place makes me think it needs a giraffe.
Not a fan of it. Reminds me too much of the rec hall at summer camp. Good memories, but not something I want to live in.
“under 2/3s of an acre”
Ha, I guess I’ve been conditioned by so much talk of 25X125.
Still, lots of custom materials here, seems like pricey upkeep even with your John Deere making quick work of the 1/2-acre.
danny, the Goldberg exhibit at AIC is very cool and the gallery of MC apartments next door is a lot of fun. Extensive coverage of various River City boondoggle schemes is kinda confusing, never really says “they all fell through except for one truncated building.” Not really too great a shame that we missed out on 19 identical towers there, I guess.
dude, helmethofer doesn’t get a vote on Goldberg buildings.
{Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing}
#1 still posting links to Oak Brook with a disregard to Sabrina’s warning.
#2 sh(r)ill
clio (January 6, 2012, 8:53 am)
Improving economy, beautiful weather….. just wait until you see contract activity for January (my office is buzzing with business – reminiscent of the mid 2000s)!! Is any other realtor/broker experiencing the same thing this week?
clio (September 7, 2011, 8:35 pm)
Is anyone else seeing a spike in homes/condos going under contract in the past week or so? There are several properties I have been watching and have been languishing on the market for months/years and are now all of a sudden going under contract. What gives?
This is not behind the Wall Street Journal paywall at the moment.
Its an article on a Mid-Century Modern in Palo Alto
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203462304577139081964446436.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
“uhhh- no you wouldn’t because it would be 600-800k”
Clio you are correct because at 800k there would be no way I’d buy it but for 450 to 550K we would still be in the ballpark in those hoods. Things are pretty reasonable out there these days.
This looks like a bargain.
Those taxes hurt
“I am INCREDIBLY shocked at the numbers of houses that went under contract in the past few DAYS (yeah, I was shocked about the last two weeks of december, but this is ridiculous).”
Why doesn’t someone from clio’s RE office give him any data? They could tell him that the 12/15/11-12/31/11 YOY 25% increase in contracts appears to be gone for the city. Then again, is he talking about the suburbs again? He clearly doesn’t have a clue about Chicago.
Chicago att/det contracts 1/1/xx-1/7/xx
2012 325
2011 313
2010 282
2009 204
2008 303
2007 296
Lincoln Park
2012 8
2011 10
Lake View
2012 19
2011 19
Cook County Suburbs
2012 432
2011 274
DuPage County
2012 132
2011 111
Lake County
2012 137
2011 87
“helmethofer doesn’t get a vote on Goldberg buildings.”
LOL, my how tolerant of you to say so. here take a look, these were ugly the day they were built and they look even worse with age, not talking long-term age, like many beautiful buildings in Europe, etc. but these went from ugly to hideous in a mere 40 years. Look for yourself:
http://bertrandgoldberg.org/projects/raymond-hillard-homes/
Very interesting home! For those taxes though, I’d rather be in Oak Park and closer to the city. Homewood/Flosmoor HS is supposedly a very good school though. I just know very little of the elementary schools. We’ve never included HF in our Cook County school talk and perhaps should have, although I am pretty sure this is still in Cook County (even though it is FAR out there).
WOW –
Contract activity for cook county suburbs is up 58% over last year!!!
Contract activity for dupage county suburbs is up 19% over last year!!
Contract activity for lake county suburbs is up 57% over last year!!!
That is truly amazing – and I truly believe that it is a sign of things to come this spring.
Less than 4% in the city Clio, which is what most of US care about….
“Less than 4% in the city Clio, which is what most of US care about….”
Up 10% over 2007!! 2007 was still boomtimes!!!
“Less than 4% in the city Clio, which is what most of US care about….”
It still is the highest in 5 years – that is a VERY important predictor of the spring market.
Also Benji, you cannot be so stupid as to think that what happens in the suburbs is not related to what happens in the city, right? Everyone else – look at Benji and see what stupidity is out there and then you will realize why real estate pricing/movement never was and never will be based on rational, logical thinking….
I’m not saying that the ~3.8% increase is bad or denying that it is the highest in five years, but it certainly isn’t the 58% and 57% and even 19% increase that Clio chose to cherry-pick from G’s post. Hopefully this will translate into a better year, but it isn’t all as cheery as Clio makes it sound. I like how he even hid that 19% between the 58% and 57% to minimize it’s impact.
What is even more important is how many of these contracts actually close. Some places I have been watching have been under contract for months and months and months. Could we get how many of these contracts are on distressed sales, especially short sales? Those are less likely to close. I’m not saying 2012 won’t be better than 2011, but I think it is a little early to be making calls and screaming for joy.
6:31post.. wow.. that was classic Clio.. stupid and stupidity, used one after another.. I haven’t heard anything like that since the 3rd grade. Nice work.
Ze: Now reaching 10 days since New Years resolution: Do not tell Clio what a fucktard he/she is, this coming 1987.
ze- i went to u chicago, harvard and stanford – where did you go?
“Look for yourself:”
Once again, you have an opinion of the aesthetics, but the Hillard Homes are one of the most successful housing projects ever in this country. They have remained safe, stable, diverse communities since the first day they opened.
“ze- i went to u chicago, harvard and stanford – where did you go?”
First 2 years at Oral Roberts, then I transferred to Notre Dame and graduated with a degree in theology.
“ze- i went to u chicago, harvard and stanford – where did you go?”
But you are still an idiot on here at least. With all that education, ,don’t you have better things to do? Oh, yes, not only do you have all that education but also are a doctor and STILL have all this time…..
Thank you Sabrina for deleting the link.
One thing that has been consistent over the last couple of years: clio’s douchebaggery alternates between annoying and entertaining. No way is he a doctor/investor/real estate mogul/pornstar and god knows what else he has claimed to be on this site. I’m picturing a fat guy living in his mom’s basement with her nagging him about getting a job and taking a shower.
Pete: it’s very simple. He’s a real estate agent agitator. He’s let that fact slip several times if you pay careful attention. Then, the next week/day/post, he turns around and claims he’s a harvard educated surgeon. The one thing he’s undoubtedly successful at is making entire threads all about him. And once again, I’ve bought into his petty little act. 🙁
“The one thing he’s undoubtedly successful at is making entire threads all about him. And once again, I’ve bought into his petty little act.”
That is not true at all!!! It doesn’t matter what I do or who I am, just concentrate on the facts. I am here to help people understand the real estate market and right now, I am trying to get them to understand that we may have already passed the bottom of the market – things are actually looking more expensive for real estate over the next 5 years. There is absolutely no reason to wait any longer – things (in general terms) are NOT going to get any better for buying a place.
“and claims he’s a harvard educated surgeon”
You leave out,that he created the CLIO. How can you possibly miss the particle physicist aspect of his personality. It virtually oozes out of every word he posts. His personality is almost comically stereotypical of a physicist.
dr. douchebag… cleanse thyself!
“Reminds me too much of the rec hall at summer camp. Good memories, but not something I want to live in.”
Ze,
“the courtyard” It reminds me of grade schools in california, awesome places to skateboard or walk between classes, but dont want live in it.
ze: “You leave out,that he created the CLIO. How can you possibly miss the particle physicist aspect of his personality. It virtually oozes out of every word he posts. His personality is almost comically stereotypical of a physicist.”
🙂
My original guess was astronaut.
“It still is the highest in 5 years – that is a VERY important predictor of the spring market.”
Only if you can never get anything right and ignore my repeated warnings about comparing current contracts with prior years. Not all contracts in prior years that fall out are counted. They are not reported when a contract drops and the property is returned to active status. Therefore, these contracts are included in current totals, but not in prior years. Contracts in prior years are counted when the listing is canceled or expired and the contract date remains in the record. These are mostly attributable to dead short sales that are not returned to active and, in prior years, presales of dead developments and repartments. The 1/1/2011-1/7/2011 contracts even include 4 that are still pending.
Here are the 1/1/xx to 1/7/xx Chicago attached/detached sfh contract numbers, with % of those that did not close:
2012 327 (99%)
2011 313 (12%)
2010 282 (10%)
2009 204 (11%)
2008 303 (11% plus 14% in 2138 S Indiana)
2007 296 (7% plus 5% in Waterview and Aqua)
G – uhhh are you a fucking idiot? Did you expect homes that go under contract last week to actually close last week also?!!! OBviously you do (hence the “data point” of 99%). This just shows you that you are a “data guy” with no intelligence or analytical skills whatsoever!!!
“G – uhhh are you a fucking idiot? Did you expect homes that go under contract last week to actually close last week also?!!! OBviously you do”
Obviously, 3 did close. The fact that you questioned it indicates that it was likely true, because, you never get anything right.
For the uninitiated, Clio claims everyone who disagrees with him is a moron or an idiot. This from the troll who actually bet me that Chicago attached and detached June 2011 closings would exceed the dough4dumps deadline-juiced closing numbers of June 2010. Of course, clio never gets anything right. June 2011 sales were 1,841, a 27.1% decline from June 2010. He failed to honor the bet, too.
G – HAHAHAHAH – bringing up June 2011 data – that is completely irrelevant!! Let me bring up 2006 data to support my point!! God, what an idiot!!
Clio: the point G is making is that, if prior year’s trends hold up, somewhere around 10% of those properties currently under contract won’t close and will “drop out” of the statistics later. Given 327 properties under contract, that means roughly 30 of them won’t end up closing. Which would mean this year is actually *slower* than prior years.
You are using a strawman (OF COURSE 99% of properties under contract haven’t closed in under a week) to beat up on G. My reply: OF COURSE that isn’t what G meant.
But go ahead, show your maturity and class and call a person you obviously didn’t understand a moron and an idiot. Your fellow astronauts would be appalled at your low brow behavior.
one thing i learned here is CONTRACTS DONT MEAN SALES.
G: You only made the bet with Sid Dorsett , and not the other 15 of them. I think Sid *has* stopped posting.
Clio is a dumb monkey. A contrivance created by an underutilized used home salesman to pass time. Too bad for this mediocre broker pontificating on the intertubes and trying to change sentiment will not turn around their lack of a livable livelihood.
TftinChi,
You have to compare apples to apples – so you cannot compare 2012 minus 10% to other years (without subtracting the 10% from those years as well). Furthermore, you don’t know how this year will fare with regards to closing – you can’t “predict” anything in real estate based on past numbers – it is a fluid game right now – the past is the past and has no bearing from here on out.
Clio: I realize that. But, from G’s posts, it seems like the numbers do get revised later to reflect the fact that some of the properties didn’t close. So, in 2011, the total number of properties that ultimately close was in fact 313 and 12% of the original number (not 313) didn’t ultimately close. I could be wrong on this, though. G, could you provide clarity?
But ultimately, this doesn’t matter. Many have remarked on the fact that properties under contract have taken longer to close lately and that a higher percentage of properties ultimately do not close. The past may be the past, but presently conditions do not look favorable for all 327 properties to close or for Chicago to beat previous years in number of properties that go under contract (and ultimately close) in January.
“I could be wrong on this, though.”
I read it that you are misunderstanding it. But then so is clio.
Sorry about the confusion, TftInChi. Those are total contracts for prior years. The % reported represents those contracts included in the total that did not close.
The reason that current contracts are not entirely comparable to prior years, and are inflated in comparison, is that they include contracts that will fall out and return to active listing status. Those are not included in the prior year contract totals.
G: in other words, properties under contract that do not close but never go back to active status are still counted in the contract totals? But properties under contract that do not close but DO go back to active status are not counted? Makes some sense, I guess.
Still, the point is that the final, comparable totals won’t be known until later in the year when we know which properties didn’t ultimately close and which were re-listed. My quote of 10% was obviously high, but some percentage of these properties will ultimately not make it into the final contract total.
T, It only makes sense when you consider I am trying to make the best contract comparison within the limitations of the available data fields. I don’t believe 10% is high for the estimate of an overcount of current contracts due to those that will fall out and remain active (returning the contract date field to blank, thus eliminating it from future counts.)
Been in there. Very nice house. Much move livable than some of the comments suggest. The bedrooms and an office in the the other area of the house are quite private to contrast with the open living pavilion. Even with the house it feels like a big a lot, and does have a “grounds” feel to it, especially with the mid-century bringing the outside in philosophy. BG loved small eurostyle bathrooms though, so it would be tough een with renovation to have modern spa/master suite bath.
Kicker is it has a radon problem, and seller is holding onto an unjustifiable (to a bank anyway) price.
I’d really like to see someone who appreciates BG and mid-century pick this up, because in the wrong hands it will be butchered…