1 Year Later, The Claude Seymour House Is Still On The Market: 817 W. Hutchinson in Buena Park
We last chattered about this 6-bedroom historic mansion at 817 W. Hutchinson in the Buena Park neighborhood of Uptown in October 2011.
See our prior chatter here.
The Claude Seymour House is one of the many historic mansions that line Hutchinson on this landmarked block.
The Elite Street column in the Chicago Tribune recently highlighted it:
The asking price for the 16-room Claude Seymour House in Buena Park has been reduced to $4.995 million from $5.195 million.
Designed by Prairie-style architect George Washington Maher and completed in 1913 for jewelry wholesaler Seymour, the more than 12,000-square-foot mansion has six bedrooms, four full baths, two half baths, leaded stained-glass windows, a grand mahogany staircase, three fireplaces, mahogany millwork throughout, an eat-in kitchen and a coach house atop a two-car garage.
The property has 136 feet of frontage and a wraparound yard.
The mansion easily is the highest-priced listing in its area, with the next-most-expensive listing in its ZIP code clocking in at just under $3 million.
The house is “loaded with original details,” said listing agent Jennifer Ames, of Coldwell Banker.
“The sellers made it work for family living without tampering with the original integrity of the home.”
The house is on 5 city lots measuring 136×140.
All 6 bedrooms are on the third level.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and what look like stone counter tops.
The house has not been reduced since we last chattered about it.
Is the reason the house hasn’t sold the price or the location?
Jennifer Ames at Coldwell Banker still has the listing. See the pictures here.
817 W. Hutchinson: 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 half baths, 12000 square feet, 2 car garage, studio
- Sold in November 1993 (no price listed)
- Originally listed in March 2011 for just 2 weeks at $5.195 million
- Re-listed in October 2011 for $4.995 million
- Currently still listed at $4.995 million
- Taxes are now $21,652 (they were $20,579 in October 2011)
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 19×19 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 16×14 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 17×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #4: 14×11 (third floor)
- Bedroom #5: 10×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #6: 12×20 (third floor)
Feels like people are more interested in properties that are not ultra expensive here.
Hope Sabrina can post more places that are below $1m. 235VB almost had 100 comments by now
Bed and breakfast candidate? Gorgeous, gorgeous home, but not sure they’ll find the right buyer at that location.
“We last chattered about this 6-bedroom historic mansion at 817 W. Hutchinson in the Buena Park neighborhood of Uptown in October 2012.”
Unless you are getting way ahead of yourself, I think you mean 2011. 😀
Who the heck wants to eat at a kitchen table underneath that pot rack?
Beautiful and expensive, as is usually the case with Jennifer Ames’ listings. This does tend toward dark and heavy, even for me (and I like vintage and lots of wood).
“Bed and breakfast candidate? Gorgeous, gorgeous home, but not sure they’ll find the right buyer at that location”
Not saying that they’ll find a buyer at that price, for that location, but I don’t see much of a market for a B&B there either (at least not one that costs this much, plus any B & B conversion costs).
The place sort of reminds me of Cafe Brauer building, the upper level of which I’d love to convert to a home. I’d even be okay with leaving the cafe/ice cream shop (or “shoppe” as they call it) in business downstairs (I would, however, push for a few menu changes, and would switch ice cream brands).
Maybe one of the Cubs will buy it.
Wow, now this is a fing awesome home!
Seems like they should consider lowering the price if they want to sell the place.
Agree it’s a beautiful home, but all of the misgivings about living so close to Uptown still apply, as we discussed a year ago.
I think the public areas of the home are almost too opulent. It reminds me of being in a church, or a museum. The living areas like the bedrooms/kitchen/study look a lot cozier.
I’m trying to decide what a theoretical George Maher home in Winnetka or Kenilworth of this size and beauty would be listed at. I’m pretty familiar with North Shore listings, and even up there you don’t see a lot of 12,000 SF homes. But unless the property were on the lake itself, I’d have trouble believing someone would list it for much more than $5 mln in the current market were it on the North Shore. You don’t see a lot of homes on the North Shore listed for much more than that with the exception of lakefront properties. Which makes me have a little trouble with them listing it at the same level just blocks from Uptown.
The fact that it’s been on the mkt at this price without selling for more than a year may be further proof that location is holding it back. The people who have $5 mln to buy a house this impressive don’t want to live in this neighborhood. Would someone buy it for $4 million here? Remains to be seen. I’m not that optimistic. Unfortunately for the seller, I think they have to realistically get comfortable with a final sale of under $4 milllion.
This home is a relic of a bygone era. It should be a museum nonprofit so there is no re taxes. I hate to say tear it down but the value is in the land.
It doesn’t help that the 4 nearby properties listed for sale on the realtor’s own website have an average price of about $48,000. To be fair, two of the four recent sales shown are over $1mm but to be right next door/just down the street from a building with lots of sub $100k units can’t be that attractive.
GORGEOUS
I adore this house.
“This home is a relic of a bygone era. It should be a museum nonprofit so there is no re taxes. I hate to say tear it down but the value is in the land.”
It’s a landmarked block- I believe.
But do you believe that’s true of the entire block then? There are vintage mansions up and down the whole street. This is probably the biggest one (on the most lots) but there are other large houses there as well.
“235VB almost had 100 comments by now”
That’s only because it’s a new construction building. It has nothing to do with the price of the property.
OK – maybe I was wrong.
Below is a listing for a nearly 11,000 SF Kenilworth home designed by Daniel Burnham and not on the lake, and it’s listed at approximately $9 mln. So much for what I said about the $5 mln barrier. Guess it doesn’t apply in Kenilworth. So maybe a Maher home like the one on Hutchinson would have a $9 mln asking price in Kenilworth, and the $5 mln price for the Hutchinson home does reflect a discount for the location.
http://www.trulia.com/property/3082872140-326-Essex-Rd-Kenilworth-IL-60043
I had to crack up at the
“Like this place? It could be yours for $43,568/mo. ”
in that listing…. I don’t’ think that even includes the taxes haha
“235VB almost had 100 comments by now”
“That’s only because it’s a new construction building. It has nothing to do with the price of the property.”
There’s also the JZ factor (I’m not assigning blame).
“I don’t’ think that even includes the taxes haha”
Speaking of finances, can you advise whether people should be buying/selling/holding aapl now?
DZ,
Not sure if you were joking about AAPL, but I have 100 shares that I bought about a year and a half ago and I’m still very happy with my gains. I’m holding tight here, as the stock is still valued at a very decent level. In fact, if the stock fell much further, I’d be more likely to see it as a buying opportunity rather than a signal to sell. A stronger U.S. economy would help the company a lot, as would AAPL’s ability to manage supply and demand for its products. Hopefully both of those things will happen soon.
I do worry a bit that the company isn’t as innovative without Steve Jobs. I can’t get really excited about smaller iPads and “upgraded” iPhones. What’s the next big thing going to be for them? I’m concerned they’re becoming complacent. I’m happy to have a quarterly dividend check, of course, but I wouldn’t want APPL to become another MSFT.
I already told you what I would have done, If I had 100 shares I would have sold some out of the money calls on it. December 650’s are going for over 10 bucks right now, thats 1k in your pocket for saying you’d sell apple at 650 on december 22nd if its higher than that
Sonies,
Try as I might, I’ve never understood options, and I’m hesitant to play in a market I don’t fully grasp. I’ll talk to my financial adviser, however. Thanks for the advice.
if your advisor doesn’t understand the option writing concept, fire him, he’s lazy
everyone should be using the strategy otherwise you’re leaving money on the table in this flat market
I’m sure my adviser understands options. I’m the one who’s ignorant.
“I’m sure my adviser understands options. I’m the one who’s ignorant.”
Leaving money on the table does not sound like a sound financial strategy. You should ask your advisor why he’s letting you do that. Or hire sonies to explain it to you.
OK, I’ll hire Sonies. 🙂
This is random but back in March, the house on Essex had an “I stand by Scott Walker” lawn sign in front.
well I am always looking for more clients, if you’re serious, i’ll make a CC only e-mail