5 Historic Alta Vista Rowhouses Are On the Market Including This 4-Bedroom For Just $500K: 3809 N. Alta Vista Terrace
If you want to live on Alta Vista Terrace, the landmarked street with 40 London-style rowhouses in Lakeview, now is your chance.
There is a record five rowhouses on the market (at least that’s a record since I’ve been following real estate over the last five years.)
This 4-bedroom rowhouse at 3809 N. Alta Vista Terrace has most of the features that buyers look for (but can’t always find) in these rowhouses.
Built in 1904 on a 24×40 lot, it is on the east side of the street and has a much sought after 1-car garage.
It also has central air and a rooftop deck (in the picture above, you can just see the extra room which was built on the roof of the rowhouse- which isn’t shown in any of the listing pictures.)
All 4 bedrooms are on the second floor and it also has the much sought after 2.5 baths (some of the other rowhouses don’t have 2 full baths.)
It has a lower level family room which the listing says has a 7’3″ ceiling height.
The listing says the rowhouse was the former home of model and socialite Cathleen Wiechert Treacy (extra bonus points if you know anything about her life.) She lived in the house for 40+ years apparently.
For vintage lovers, the rowhouse has many of its original features including original doors, leaded glass, crown molding, millwork and hardwood floors.
There are no pictures of the kitchen or the bathrooms.
At $500,000 is this competitively priced for the street?
Susan Lawrence at @Properties has the listing. See the pictures here.
3809 N. Alta Vista Terrace: 4 bedrooms, 2.5 baths, 2370 square feet, 1 car garage
- There’s no prior price as the seller lived in the rowhouse for over 40 years
- Currently listed at $500,000
- Taxes of $7615
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 13×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 11×8 (second floor)
- Family room: 16×15 (lower level)
Gorgeous and seems reasonable, even if the kitchen and baths need gutting, which I’m assuming they do.
But that disappearing furniture trick on the photos is cool! Great idea to show it with and without staging. Is that just photoshopped fake furniture super-imposed?
Alta Vista Terrace is so charming! I think 500 K is a reasonable price to pay here, even with the work to be done (who know what lurks behind the walls after 40 years in the same hands). I’m already partial to this block, though.
this block is nice even during cubs games. what school district? dont think it’s blaine.
alta vista has stubby homes. they are all on short lots
if you dno’t mind not having a backyard…. though actually that park that runs along the alley is a good substitute if you don’t need privacy
The photos of the pictured place don’t quite do it justice. It is rougher than it looks (although I have certainly seen rougher places on Alta vista). It hasn’t been touched in years. Everything and I mean everything needs done. The layout upstairs is especially odd – in some respects in a good way. You have to almost crawl through a little walkway to get to the “garage” – which would barely accommodate a golf cart (not kidding). The root top is a nice bonus (which also needs to be completely redone – the wood is almost fragile).
Does anyone have a ballpark idea of what a pretty complete rehab would cost on a place this size? Nothing over the top, just liveable.
The question becomes whether it is a better deal to buy this place at $500k and do the work or whether you should buy a place down the street for $650k that has had most of the work done. I am guessing the latter is cheaper on an overall basis.
The glut of Alta Vista homes currently for sale (not including the multiple houses that closed recently) is certainly unusual.
Loads of vintage character with a floorplan that’s appears to be livable for a modern family. I really like this and agree the price seems reasonble unless there are structural problems.
I really want to see the inside of this place. We went to 2 open houses on Alta Vista Sunday (that are both listed for $649K). The first is 3800, it’s empty and on the corner of Grace, ultimately better because it is 6 feet longer and 2 feet wider than all the others due to it’s being on a corner. You also get more light due to the windows on the side. It’s also on the West side of the street so you get a (very small) yard. HOWEVER, it was once a 2-flat so the layout is totally awkward (full [gorgeous] bath off the dining room?) and it just needs a lot of work. The kitchen is outdated, there is a weird spiral staircase in the backyard going up to the back bedroom which used to be another entrance. The interior staircase was butchered. It just would take probably $100K to get it to where it should be-it’s not just cosmetic work that needs to be done. The basement isn’t finished either. The other one, 3845, is move in ready, very nicely done with a finished basement and 4 full bedrooms upstairs. However the only outdoor space is a little balcony off a back bedroom, but its lovely. They made a very nice sunroom off the kitchen/living room (they have the living/dining kind of backwards now) which brings in so much light and is just lovely. I much preferred this one but the other (3800-on the corner) *could* be great. Neither have parking which the subject property does. So I am very curious to see the interior. Looks great from the photos although no kitchen/bath pics probably means quite a but of work would be necessary.
School is Greeley… too bad because Blaine is so close.
At $500,000, I’m ready to buy! Great price, especially with parking and the roof deck. Finally an Alta Vista home priced to sell. I’m guessing the kitchen and baths need an extra $100K of work. But I wouldn’t know till I saw.
Is the three-story one still on the market for over $800K? They’ll have to come down.
Dan #2 — there’s another one for $500 K on the block, too! So there are actually two priced to sell.
The photos of the pictured place don’t quite do it justice. It is rougher than it looks (although I have certainly seen rougher places on Alta vista). It hasn’t been touched in years. Everything and I mean everything needs done. The layout upstairs is especially odd – in some respects in a good way. You have to almost crawl through a little walkway to get to the “garage” – which would barely accommodate a golf cart (not kidding). The root top is a nice bonus (which also needs to be completely redone – the wood is almost fragile).
Does anyone have a ballpark idea of what a pretty complete rehab would cost on a place this size? Nothing over the top, just liveable.
The question becomes whether it is a better deal to buy this place at $500k and do the work or whether you should buy a place down the street for $650k that has had most of the work done. I am guessing the latter is cheaper on an overall basis.
The glut of Alta Vista homes currently for sale (not including the multiple houses that closed recently) is certainly unusual.
“a ballpark idea of what a pretty complete rehab would cost on a place this size”
Just surface rehab, or near-gut? The latter would likely be $100+/sf.
A 3 story English-tudor looking place just sold last week for $690K, but then there is one still on the market for $780, I’m not sure which one you mean… but they’re both unbelievable from the street! Man, this street is so pretty.
Can someone please post a link to the $650,000 one?
“Is the three-story one still on the market for over $800K? They’ll have to come down.”
There are many different sized rowhouses on the street and yes, some are more renovated than others.
“It is rougher than it looks (although I have certainly seen rougher places on Alta vista). It hasn’t been touched in years. Everything and I mean everything needs done.”
Ryan: Windows too? They looked original to me when I was taking the picture of the exterior.
“Ryan: Windows too? They looked original to me when I was taking the picture of the exterior.”
The windows are original. Except for the windows on the sun room on the roof (which opens onto the rooftop). The sun room on the roof is a nice bonus – you can’t build these anymore because it is visible from the street. There are all kind of odd quarks about the place. There is a safe in the basement, access to the roof is through an interior spiral staircase in one of the rooms, a built in ironing board in the basement, almost a universal closet for the entire upstairs (there is a smaller cedar closet that is shared by 2 bedrooms). There is no true master bedroom. The room with the spiral staircase has been built out to be a library – you can see that room in the photo above (it has the lattice on the inside of the windows). The fireplace I don’t think is original, but it is certainly very old. Who knows if it is functional.
All that being said, the place has potential. The facade is pretty. If you could expand the garage into something functional for a mid-sized car for a reasonable price, that would be huge. The place has an addition built into the back that extends the unit all the way to the alley (you can see that others don’t have this) but unfortunately the floors slope downwards at about a 10 degree pitch. The sun room and rooftop deck could be great. The unit has central air. Someone with a much better eye than me could come up with a great layout for the second floor.
For those who like Alta Vista, this place is certainly worth a visit. I checked out another unit maybe a year ago or more for a similar price that was much, much rougher (it also had a rooftop deck).
Thanks, Ryan! You are a treasure trove of information!
Dan #2:
3800 n alta vista ter (649K):
http://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/3800-N-Alta-Vista-Ter-60613/home/13384034
3837 n alta vista ter (also 500K):
http://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3837-N-Alta-Vista-Ter-Chicago-IL-60613/3711409_zpid/
This is a beauty, though like others on this street it seems to have its quirks. It might make more sense, as someone else said, to spend $650K on an updated one and not have the extra work.