1920s Millwork, Plaster Moldings and Wood Paneling: 3400 N. Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview
This 4-bedroom in 3400 N. Lake Shore Drive in East Lakeview came on the market in May 2021.
Built in 1922 in the Beaux Arts style, this building has 46 condo units.
It’s a full service building with a doorman and an engineer along with an exercise room.
The listing says it has an indoor and outdoor garage.
This unit does not face the Lake. It has south and west views.
The listing says it has been “totally rehabbed” in 2017.
If the unit looks familiar, that’s because we chattered about it in April 2016, the last time it was on the market.
See the 2016 chatter here.
But it still has many of its original vintage features including a foyer with mahogany millwork and paneling and a living room with woodwork, including crown molding, and a gas burning fireplace.
There is restored plaster moldings and ceilings in the living and dining rooms.
The unit has a paneled library with a second gas fireplace and built-in bookshelves.
The kitchen is a “cook’s dream” with grey cabinets, a huge center island and luxury appliances.
There is a laundry room with pantry off the kitchen which also has an extra stainless steel refrigerator.
The unit has a dry bar with a wine fridge.
There is a new powder room.
Also, all four bedrooms have en suite bathrooms, which is rare for a vintage building.
The primary bedroom has a large bathroom with two vanities and walk in shower along with a bath.
It has features buyers look for including central air and one parking space transfers with the unit. The seller also rents a second parking space.
The unit is in the Nettlehorst school district.
For vintage lovers, is this a dream home?
Suzanne Gignilliat at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
Unit #8EF: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 4000 square feet
- Sold in September 2000 for $852,500
- Sold in April 2002 for $1,050,000
- Sold in June 2005 for $1,425,000
- Sold in May 2017 for $1,450,000
- Originally listed in May 2021 for $1,749,000
- Currently still listed for $1,749,000
- Assessments of $3611 a month (they were $2760 a month in 2016)(includes heat, gas, doorman, exterior maintenance, exercise room, lawn care, scavenger, snow removal)
- Taxes of $26,408 (they were $18,500 in 2016)
- Central Air
- Washer/dryer in the unit
- 2 gas fireplaces
- One parking space transfers with the unit and seller rents a second space
- Bedroom #1: 18×16
- Bedroom #2: 15×13
- Bedroom #3: 14×17
- Bedroom #4: 13×17
- Living room: 16×27
- Dining room: 18×17
- Kitchen: 18×20
- Foyer: 10×22
- Library: 19×14
- Laundry room: 8×13
$6k/month, with $1.75m down.
And, while it is extremely nice, it feels only moderately “livable” to me, with the layout of the public space, but perhaps I’m just too … something for this sort of place.
Dream home for vintage lovers
Beautifully appointed and graciously sized rooms… Plenty of closet space… A/C… W/D.. Parking… Assessments are terrible for a small vintage midrise
Looks like just about every window looks into the window of the buildings across the street. I would prefer the wood panels painted white, but I actually do not vintage.
Foyer is 9′ x 22′.
Talk about wasteful space, even in the era when a grand foyer was part of any respectable home.
Beautiful unit, but doesn’t look like it would function well and comfortably for a family. Best us: Home for a Consul General that does a lot of entertaining, or something similar.
Also would be a lot more compelling with a nice Lake view!
It’s a very formal space, with the plaster ceiling moldings and paneling.
“Talk about wasteful space, even in the era when a grand foyer was part of any respectable home.”
If you had “wasted” space in a foyer, KK, it meant you were rich.
These buildings were built for the rich of the 1920s and 30s.
“These buildings were built for the rich of the 1920s and 30s.”
Thanks Captain Obvious 🙂
I still stand by my point that 6% of a floor plan allocated to a foyer is wasteful. While the home is sizeable by city standards, this isn’t exactly a North Shore mansion.
How do you re-purpose the foyer then? Any changes would eliminate beautiful original millwork. Are any rooms too small? What rooms are missing? Maybe the powder room could be more accessible to the public spaces? Public spaces look original and private spaces are appropriately redone for today’s tastes.
Floorplan (and pix) for 6E:
https://tour.vht.com/433788962/3400-n-lake-shore-drive-6e-chicago-il-60657/ifloorplan/idx
“ How do you re-purpose the foyer then?”
When they went through the last major renovation, could have allocated some of the space to the kitchen like in 6E.
“When they went through the last major renovation, could have allocated some of the space to the kitchen like in 6E.”
Huh?
6E is a completely different floorplan. This unit is an 8E and F.
The kitchen in 6E is in a completely different location.
But let’s say you want to “shrink” the foyer. You take 2 feet from the 10 feet so it is 8 feet and then the kitchen is now 2 feet bigger on one wall. (probably can’t even do this given where the doors are- but I’ll play along)
So?
What does that get you?
The kitchen is already 18×20. Lol. The whole unit is 4,000 square feet. Each bedroom has an en suite. The primary bedroom has a closet and a big bathroom (by vintage standards.)
There’s a laundry room- not just a closet.
Why does a large stunning foyer with original wood bother you in a space this big?
“would have allocated some of the space to the kitchen like in 6E”
Think that would have been hard with the location of the entry door, and the connections to the main hallways. Would have also f’ed up the trim.
forgot to ask:
How many units per floor when built? 3? 2?
“How many units per floor when built? 3? 2?”
According to the Chicago Apartments book, it was originally planned for one 16 room and two 12 room apartments on each floor. The largest unit overlooked the lake and the two smaller units looked out on Roscoe (as this one does).
Original number of units was 25.
One of the really rich guys, Col. Robert H. Morse, had planned to put together two units and create the largest apartment in Chicago: 21 rooms with 9 baths.
It says “some residents, Morse among them, spent many tens of thousands decorating the interiors.”
Apparently, some of that original decoration survived in this unit in several of the rooms.
Additionally, moving walls in these old apartments isn’t easy.
Probably plaster. You really wouldn’t want to do it unless you really had to.
very cool home I wouldn’t change a thing
6k seems like a lot even with a full cash payment but I’m not rich either so yeah who knows lol
“I still stand by my point that 6% of a floor plan allocated to a foyer is wasteful.”
sure, maybe if it was a white box but this foyer is beautiful. trying to modify that space in any way would ruin all the old details and millwork. it can also easily act as over flow seating to the living room if entertaining a lot of people.
“it was originally planned for one 16 room and two 12 room apartments on each floor.”
So this one is basically an original-way unit (layout tweaked some, I’m sure), as opposed to those on many of the other floors that got carved up into 2 units–especially the east side units, with the substantially larger SF.
BC unit (just sold!) with a floorplan:
https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3400-N-Lake-Shore-Dr-60657/unit-2BC/home/172288765
Dream apartment. If I could have any apartment in Chicago I wanted, price no limit, this would be it. I’ve seen many vastly larger and more expensive vintages apartments and penthouses in this city, but there are none more elegant, even if they are more lavish. To me, it looks extremely livable and comfortable, and the location is great.
The HOA, though steeply higher than in 2016, is still pretty much in line for an elderly high rise with the heat and utilities included, and with the high level of service offered. A full staff of maintenance and door people isn’t cheap, and neither is the maintenance, including the masonry and stone work that never ceases in a building like this. Perhaps the ownership wisely decided to increase the reserve, something that most condo associations need to think about. While NOBODY can reasonably accumulate the amount of money that would have been necessary to repair the doomed building in Miami, an ample reserve will at least enable an association to address a developing structural issue before it gets as far out of hand as it did in that building. That is why special assessments are inevitable, especially if you ignore looming problems. People buying into full-amenity high rises need to know that these are just very expensive buildings to operate and maintain, even when they’re not old, and they might figure it’s worth spending as much on their building’s maintenance and improvement as they would, say, a new Benz, or a 2 month European vacations.
Reduced $50k; still available.