Live in the Oakdale Avenue District in this 5-Bedroom SFH: 826 W. Oakdale in Lakeview

826 w oakdale #2

This 5-bedroom single family home at 826 W. Oakdale in Lakeview came on the market in February 2017.

Built in 1890 on a standard Chicago lot of 25×125, it’s located in the Oakdale Avenue District, which is a Chicago landmark district.

It lasts just a block, from Halsted to Mildred on Oakdale. The street is filled with single family homes and mid-rise apartment buildings in the Queen Anne, Richardsonian Romanesque and Classical Revival styles, among others.

In the past we have chattered about the nearby Terra Cotta Row District, which is also landmarked. It stretches for the 1000 West block of Oakdale.

The listing says this house is a “Brownstone” (is it?) but it has many of its vintage features including an entry foyer, the original woodwork, crown molding, high ceilings and 2 fireplaces.

There’s a formal dining room, a music room and a library.

4 bedrooms are on the second floor with a master suite that has a 20×9 walk-in closet and a marble bathroom.

The lower level is finished and has a recreation room, an office, a big storage room and the 5th bedroom.

It appears that the back of the house was added as it sports the kitchen with white cabinets, granite counter tops, stainless steel appliances, a Dacor double oven and a Bosch dishwasher, and is open to a family room.

There’s a 3-car attached garage, central air and a laundry room on the second floor.

There’s also a back deck.

This house has been reduced about 15% since it first listed in February 2017 and is now listed at $1.699 million.

Is this a deal for the square footage?

Jennifer Mills at Berkshire Hathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.

826 W. Oakdale: 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 5740 square feet

  • Sold in September 1988 for $330,000
  • Sold in April 2008 for $1.275 million
  • Originally listed in February 2017 for $1.999 million
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed at $1.699 million
  • Taxes of $19,495
  • Central Air
  • Attached 3-car parking
  • 2 fireplaces
  • Bedroom #1: 24×19 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 18×16 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #3: 13×11 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #4: 12×10 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #5: 19×14 (lower level)
  • Walk-in closet: 20×9 (second floor)
  • Family room: 20×15 (main level)
  • Library: 13×12 (main level)
  • Office: 12×11 (lower level)
  • Storage room: 20×10 (lower level)

22 Responses to “Live in the Oakdale Avenue District in this 5-Bedroom SFH: 826 W. Oakdale in Lakeview”

  1. Didn’t they learn anything from the previous seller? Keep cutting.

    0
    0
  2. Really Terrible mix of old and new – the transition at the kitchen is especially bad. Should have either gutted and went modern or the renos should have ketp the classic look

    Desks in the kitchen is a waste

    Parquet flooring is horrible

    0
    0
  3. This is a great area of the city and I find the exterior to have good curb appeal. From photos it appears that they struggled a bit in planning out the renovation. Classic example of the battle over form vs function. It appears that the layout and design of the rooms (function) is decent but the theme and vibe and finishes of the space (form) just do not create unity or a consistent theme.

    That is the challenge in design. What works for some will repulse others. When we were looking at homes I often thought of the finishes in great shape that I’d have to tear out and redo. There were many homes we saw that were upgraded just prior to listing where I felt that they would have been better selling the property as is rather then spending the money on renovation that did not actually improve the property.

    0
    0
  4. I actually like this place. Love that most of the vintage architectural details are still in place. The kitchen is where more of the modern necessities of life are placed, so I can appreciate that the addition is completely modern. The transition is a bit awkward, but the kitchen itself is well done.

    0
    0
  5. looking to buy on May 24th, 2017 at 11:38 am

    “Desks in the kitchen is a waste”

    Not if you have grade schoolers. That’s where they do there homework.

    “Parquet flooring is horrible”

    Agreed

    0
    0
  6. Sometimes I wonder about people around here. This isn’t that over-priced and the stuff that is dated/off-putting is so superficial and easily changed. If I had this kind of money this is the kind of place I would buy. and yeah – – I call it Richardsonian Romanesque-ish on the exterior. LOVELY. The parquet floors are beautiful. This isn’t the cheap crap in old apartments.

    0
    0
  7. Yeah its a well kept 5700 sqft house on a full size lot on an awesome block wtf do you think its gonna cost?

    0
    0
  8. ” its a well kept 5700 sqft house on a full size lot on an awesome block wtf do you think its gonna cost?”

    $675,000.

    0
    0
  9. Wtf do I think it’s going to cost? About 1.55-1.6 million. And that’s only if sirens are a non-issue, which is a concern given it’s about a block from the Masonic emergency room entrance.

    0
    0
  10. Typically I like vintage with an updated kitchen, but the vintage wood is too light and the kitchen too boring to really like this place. Also it has to be really wide to have that kind of sq footage on a 25 foot lot and still have a bit of a front yard so some rooms may be darker than most would like.

    0
    0
  11. “it has to be really wide to have that kind of sq footage on a 25 foot lot”

    Building is ~100 feet long. The deck is smaller than the pix make it look.

    0
    0
  12. I think the woodwork is nice. I like the flooring too. I would have made the ceiling crown match the rest of the room trim, instead of white.

    I don’t like the kitchen table bench seating. That is a form vs function trade-off. They needed seating in a small space. But it looks bad.

    Interesting use of picture molding. It’s very practical, but it really doesn’t look good.

    0
    0
  13. I think this place has some great details and has a lot of potential, but some of the renovations just don’t seem to mesh well with the rest of the vintage details.

    Not sure if it’s original or not, but i agree that the wood color and the parquet floors are awful. Parquet floors remind me of my college apartment, haha.

    0
    0
  14. This house is almost 130 years old, so there is a lot of history to contend with and no idea of what issues prompted some design decisions.

    That said, it is an awkward mix of old and new. I would have tried to (preferably) make the bathroom and kitchen update match the vintage style of the home, or at least be more neutral…,or otherwise updated everything (not likely I fucking hate modern)

    0
    0
  15. “Parquet floors”

    Yes, they are a pain to refinish, but other than that, why does everyone hate them so much?

    0
    0
  16. “Yes, they are a pain to refinish, but other than that, why does everyone hate them so much?”

    I think it’s because they look more ‘old’ than ‘vintage’. To me , they look incredibly ‘tacky’. I’m using the quotations because it’s obviously opinion…But to me, parquet is gross.

    0
    0
  17. there was a nice 1700 sq foot home + full but unfinished basement my wife and i looked at back at the bottom of the market. it needed a lot of work, a lot actually, but i liked the size and the layout. it had parquet floors throughout. i wanted to keep the floors but the wife was totally against it. so here’s this house that needs a major rehab
    and you can’t even save the perfectly good wood parquet floors. so i passed on the house even though i really liked it. we found some other house with like perfect quartersawn oak old growth hardwoods that had been covered with berber carpet for 50 years before with only a handful of staples and nails at the very edges. we bought that house instead and rehabbed it. but i still wonder sometimes if the house with the parquet floors would have been better. based on everyone’s opinion here, probably not! go ahead and give this a thumbs down everybody.

    0
    0
  18. I don’t really like parquet either, but they aren’t remotely cheap or tacky to me, just one of the few vintage features when it comes to craftsmanship with wood that feels more plain “old” than “classic” or “vintage” in a good way.

    0
    0
  19. That said, parquet occasionally looks perfectly at home, as in the hallway or entry hall of certain large LSD properties, or in a mansion in Newport, RI.

    0
    0
  20. Anyone who thinks that a single family in east lakeview on a beautiful tree lined street, steps from the best kids park in the neighborhood is going to cost $675 K is a complete idiot. Sorry but a vacant lot or a tear down in this area sells for more than that. Comps set the market not your crazy ideas on fair value. For this area 1.7 mil seems very reasonable to me considering the size of the space even if there is a considerable about of remodeling to be done (and there is). SFH around here are usually listed for 2-3mil when fully renovated.

    That being said – having seen this house in person during last weekends open house I can attest that there are a lot of things that need work. The addition they built swallowed up the whole yard so no green space at all. The master bedroom is so overly huge that it makes no sense at all. There is an abundance of columns throughout the house which I believe are mostly decorative (dear God why?!?) and overall the addition does not match the old portion of the house in terms of quality or style. There were some places where even in the older section the original woodwork had added embellishments tacked on – I assume the previous owners really really liked architectural “bling” like the damn columns and stick on wood flourishes. And why go for a blonde wood kitchen when the rest of the house has vintage dark stained wood work? SMH.

    But someone will see the potential here and make it a nice home. The sellers agent claimed they are now “motivated to sell” so it will be interesting to see how it goes.

    FYI – I live around the corner (hence why I popped into this open house) and noise from the hospital has never been an issue for me. They try to be very respectful of the neighborhood which we all appreciate.

    0
    0
  21. This is a great house. I see two men living here and making it their own great place. I personally don’t like parquet, but it’s just personal taste. I think the lack of green space is an asset. I like a few flowers in planters but I don’t want to upkeep grass, etc.

    0
    0
  22. “Anyone who thinks that a single family in east lakeview”

    Anyone who thinks that west of Halsted is “east” lake view is a complete something something.

    0
    0

Leave a Reply