You Don’t Have to go to England to Buy Your Dream Castle: 5N648 Dunham Road in Wayne
As most of you know, I don’t normally cover many properties outside of the Chicago city limits but I do make exceptions from time to time.
This is one of those times.
There’s a castle in our midst.
Dunham Castle at 5N648 Dunham Road in west suburban Wayne came on the market in September 2012.
Built in 1883 by Mark Dunham, who ran a lucrative horse breeding farm known as Oak Hill Farm, the 3 store home is made out of limestone and brick.
Originally part of a huge estate covering over 2,000 acres, it now sits on 15 acres in the Oak Lawn Farm National Historic District and the Wayne Historic District.
Here’s more from Baird & Warner’s Leslie Ebersole who is handling the sale:
In 1953, Dunham Castle was converted into four spacious apartments. Fortunately, no alteration to the interior structure compromised the original character of the house. After changing owners several times following its transformation into apartments, the Griffins of Wayne bought the house in 1976. During their ownership, the Griffins looked into making the grand building into a museum, professional office, or a private dining club. None of these ideas came to fruition. In the late 1970s concerned community members worked to establish Oak Lawn Farm as a Historic District. In 1986, the home was again put up for sale.
The Armbrust family of Glen Ellyn bought the property in 1987 to convert the building back into a single family home. In the past 25 years extensive effort was made to rebuild the home from the inside out to preserve it for future generations. Unfortunately, business setbacks that troubled so many families in the past few years required that the property be returned to bank who held the mortgage.
The house is now listed at 4 bedrooms, 2 baths with 8215 square feet.
The listing says it was “partially gutted” and that the “structure needs significant investment.”
It has central air.
The listing also says that the lot is zoned for single family living (and horses are allowed) but that the village will likely not allow the property to be subdivided.
For those not familiar with Wayne, it is a small village west of Chicago that historically has had large lots. You won’t find Homedelete’s tri-level houses stacked one after the other out there.
Who has the vision to restore this magnificent piece of history?
Leslie Ebersole at Baird & Warner has the listing. See all the pictures here.
5N648 Dunham Road in Wayne: 4 bedrooms, 2 baths, 8215 square feet
- Anyone know what it sold for in 1987?
- Allegedly bank owned
- Originally listed in September 2012 for $1.8 million
- Currently still listed at $1.8 million
- Taxes of $42,592
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 20×20 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 20×20 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 20×20 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 15×15 (main floor)
- Library: 20×20 (main floor)
- Full attic
Well, given the number of people who somehow manage to scrape up the $5M or so that it takes to restore Near North Side mansions of comparable size, there ought to be SOMEBODY out there who can rescue this old beauty. Is that hand-painted wallpaper I see peeling in the center hall near the beautiful staircase?
But prospective buyers might be scared off by the prospect of restoring something like this, in this current climate of outsize risk and almost no return on “safe” investments. The price seems extremely reasonable for such an exceptional old house with so much space and land, but the place has failed to generate any interest of years and that fact alone makes investing another couple of million dollars (at least) in restoring the place seem foolish.
Yes yes yes!
A suburban property that isn’t a collar-burb?
Methinks Sabrina’s been watching too much Game of Thrones.
how close is this to clio’s sanitation pits?
“Methinks Sabrina’s been watching too much Game of Thrones.”
No. I don’t watch that show.
This reminds me more of Downton Abbey than anything else.
This place needs a lot of work and Wayne is too close to south Elgin.
I’d hire HD to cut my grass….
“No. I don’t watch [Game of Thrones].”
ARE YOU KIDDING ME!? Blasphemy! One of the greatest shows ever.
this would be a pimp Bed & Breakfast place.
I looked at this place and almost put a bid on it – but then I realized that it is no fun sitting out in the middle of nowhere by yourself (no matter how big a property or house you have). I really don’t know how this place is ever going to sell:
– no investor is going to buy it as there is NO potential to make even a single cent
– no busy family is going to buy it as there is way too much work to do to complete it
– nobody with a net worth of less than 5 million and a busy job would (or should) consider buying it considering the amount of work that still needs to be done (I estimate 1-1.5 million to make it awesome) and 1-2 years.
The pool of single weirdo loner people without a job (or busy life) but with a net worth of over 5 million and a love of castles who want to live in the middle of nowhere is practically (or absolutely) non-existent.
The only thing I could see being done is turning it into a historical site or nursing/rehab facility of some sort.
Wow tons of visible water damage just from the listing photos, I can’t imagine how bad it really is.
I grew up in the western burbs and honestly had never heard of Wayne before… I now know where it is by looking at that map and wonder who the hell is going to buy this with all that water damage. I could see like 800k or something, maybe….
Beautiful home! I wonder what the yearly upkeep would end up costing.
“The pool of single weirdo loner people without a job (or busy life) but with a net worth of over 5 million and a love of castles who want to live in the middle of nowhere is practically (or absolutely) non-existent.”
How many ‘castles’ still for sale in/around OB and Burr Ridge?
This is definitely an oddity. A beautiful home, but it sure does need a ton of work and who wants to live out by St. Charles??
From the sound of the listing, good luck getting the village to allow anything other than a SFH. Looks to me like the bank may be screwed here by that.
My guess is a beautiful weekend got Sabrina to take a roadtrip with the windows down. 🙂
“How many ‘castles’ still for sale in/around OB and Burr Ridge?”
Surprisingly ignorant comment from someone who supposedly is educated and knowledgable…..
OB/Burr Ridge are 17 minutes from downtown chicago (w/o traffic) – this place is at least 45 minutes (w/o traffic).
The castles in OB/Burr Ridge are newer and don’t need any work – a busy person/family could easily move in without a problem
OB/Burr Ridge has a built in community of rich people who share similar interests, culture, values, etc. – wayne is a hodgepodge of poor, middle class, and rich people who are very private….
The castles in OB/Burr Ridge are on small lots and require less maintenance.
to compare the two locales/properties is absurd and idiotic
“to compare the two locales/properties is absurd and idiotic”
Um, dude, I was (subtly) agreeing with you–who in the market for a ‘castle’ would choose this one over the (several??) still available in OB/BR and environs. Still the prickly bastard, eh?
My home is my castle, even though it’s a 1950’s ranch in niles.
Now, now boys… no need to go all King Henry VIII.
Glad to see some suburban representation on this blog finally. But sad to see that it’s Wayne. Who wants to live in Wayne when there are so many other, better suburbs out there?
What’s wrong with Wayne? This split is on the border of Wayne. Is that a problem?
http://www.redfin.com/IL/South-Elgin/1081-Mark-St-60177/home/16991791
Live like Wayne without paying Wayne prices.
Groove77 : this would be a pimp Bed & Breakfast place.
But who would stay there? What is nearby that would bring tourists?
“who in the market for a ‘castle’ would choose this one over the (several??) still available in OB/BR and environs”
Someone who wanted a real “castle”? Okay, it’s not a castle and it’s not on an estate any longer, but there is a little land at least and I gotta say it looks nice from the front (is there an OB/BR “castle” that is as attractive from teh front?).
Wayne Manor, just outside Gotham. If I were the agent, I’d be conjuring that imagery in the listing. If nothing else, the ensuing anti-infringement reponse, and the related coverage in the local press, might bring the property to the attention of the right semi-eccentric/nerdy type who’ll buy this cool place.
“Someone who wanted a real “castle”?”
But it’s $1.8m, has two baths, and isn’t inhabitable. For about the same price, this:
http://www.cabinetlenail.com/ads,for-sale-castle-tours,4874,265vm,en.html
is slightly more impressive as a not-quite-a-castle, and is only a bit more inconvenient than Wayne.
Really cool. I never heard of Wayne until today.
Trivia time: Marguerite Henry and Misty, of Misty of Chincoteague fame, lived in Wayne on a little farmette.
Someone who wanted a real “castle”? Okay, it’s not a castle and it’s not on an estate any longer, but there is a little land at least and I gotta say it looks nice from the front (is there an OB/BR “castle” that is as attractive from teh front?).
http://www.prestigeproperty.co.uk/property/148780/French-Chateau-Saone-et-Loire-71-France/
Ah… Ze pisses on this place… For not that much more go for the above… if you really want to step up to the plate… the one below…
http://www.prestigeproperty.co.uk/property/120044/French-Chateau-Jura-39-France/
What the heck you guys? Why all the love for Wayne and all the hate for Cary? Cary is like a metropolis compared to Wayne. Wayne is seriously no man’s land.
“Why all the love for Wayne and all the hate for Cary? Cary is like a metropolis compared to Wayne. ”
You’re effectively saying Cary is the tallest Midget.