Channel Your Inner Castle: 4353 W. Hollywood in Sauganash
The neighborhoods along the lake aren’t the only place where you can find million dollar mansion-like homes.
This castle-inspired 4-bedroom home at 4353 W. Hollywood in Sauganash on the Northwest Side was just reduced by $50,000.
Thomas McCarey at The Real Estate Lounge at @Properties has the listing. See all the pictures here.
4353 W. Hollywood: 4 bedrooms, 4.5 baths, 3100 square feet
- Sold in July 2003 for $256,500 (the prior house)
- Originally listed in January 2009 for $1,049,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $999,000
- Taxes of $3142
- Kitchen by EuroCraft
- On a cul de sac
It could not possibly look more ridiculously out of place next to its neighboring houses if it tried.
Not a million dollar home any longer 🙂
What were they thinking? That is hilarious.
LOL! a million bucks!
1. What bank would allow someone to borrow THAT much money out of their house, given the price of property in that area? I am assuming this renovation cost at least 300k and he bought the property for 256. 2. That house reminds me of a pimped out civic(I’ll find a better comparison once I go get my coffee). You can spend $$ on all the bells and whistles that you want, it’s still a Civic. This place is obviously a bungalow with an expensive facelift. Why didn’t this owner just buy a house for 800k rather than making this place completely overvalue?!
ROFLMAO is that a joke? That fugly POS looks like a caricature. If you look up McMansion in the dictionary, that’s the pic you’ll see.
Actually I think its picture is next to the word “LOLDUMBASSMCCRAPBOX”
Maybe if it came with a moat and a 20-sided die..
New concept: McCastle. I just decided I disagree with Kristen. That place looks out of place next to itself.
Lauren: I think your civic analogy is perfect. Whoever did this has no taste and was looking to slap on as many needless modifications as possible to make the place look “cool”. Just terrible.
If this owner in fact hired an architect for this changes, I want that architect’s name…so I never, ever, ever run the risk of hiring him.
Should this place ever go into foreclosure I hope the Cook County sheriff’s office has a siege tower on hand.
“Bob on February 19th, 2009 at 9:04 am
Maybe if it came with a moat and a 20-sided die..”
Just had to say thanks for the laugh.
thank you for this listing – one of the most ridiculous-looking houses i have ever seen. on the other hand, the inside is much more normal looking than i would have expected.
wtf…
Okay, who stole the scaled down blueprints of King Friday’s Make-Believe Mansion? This reminds me of something out of Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood.
What were they thinking? Is this another wannabe rap star’s version of a chick magnet?
I just thought about something. Aren’t bungalows protected by some type of historic property laws? I always thought the whole point of having historic property is that people won’t think about “pimping their crib”.
Will Obama subsidize the loan principal for whoever buys this pile of crap?
i know someone who would probably think this place is the best house ever. unfortunately for the sellers, it’s unlikely my 5 year old nephew will get the financing to buy it.
*That house reminds me of a pimped out civic*
Exactly.
Also, I bet his neighbors HATE him.
It doesn’t really look that much more out of place than a 20’s tudor. Bungalow’s aren’t specifically protected, especially not 50’s bungalows. Check out streetview; there are several houses like this in the block. Best is the basketball hoop in front of the street – wonder if they used their handicapped space for it.
Bungalows aren’t protected legally, as far as I know, but I believe the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association provides incentives for maintenance and renovation to try to prevent demolition.
My parents’ bungalow qualifies but they’ve never applied for any cash, so I’m not sure how you go about getting the money.
Because 4.7% off makes it affordable for so many people now!
HOLY FUCK I just looked at the pictures, do they know every single one of their neighbors is LAUGHING at them?
When I first saw this it reminded me of this story from a few years back – http://www.chicagomag.com/Chicago-Magazine/May-2006/Under-Siege/.
Maybe the king of Zimbabawe lives here and wants $999,000 ZWD for the place, because that’s what i’d pay for it.
This is an example of the Eastern European “pick-up truck” contractor/developer project. More examples are found throughout the northwest side of Chicago, and the inner North and Northwest suburbs (Lincolnwood, Skokie, etc.). These free-spirited “developers” design their own projects, don’t follow code, ignore permit requirement, frequently violate zoning setback and height restrictions, and construct flamboyant houses that don’t fit into their neighborhood context. Said houses were often sold to their target clientele, other Eastern European families. Much of Lincolnwood’s mid-century modern housing stock has been destroyed or modified beyond recognition, and the neighborhoods ruined by out-of-scale grossly designed houses.
Sonies said: “Maybe the king of Zimbabawe lives here and wants $999,000 ZWD for the place, because that’s what i’d pay for it.”
– Before the Zimbabwe dollar went DOA about 2 weeks a ago, 2 months ago $1 Tillion Z Dollars was equal to about USD $1. No joke. So you’d pay a fraction of 1¢…… As Zimbabwe goes so goes the US………..thanks King Obama.
“Said houses were often sold to their target clientele, other Eastern European families.”
But their ask price is not denominated in polish zlotys now is it?
A cool million ask for this shows Sabrina must have some sense of humor. Maybe the Burger King himself will take up residence here.
http://images.businessweek.com/ss/06/09/ceo_socnet/image/burger-king.jpg
“This is an example of the Eastern European “pick-up truck” contractor/developer project. More examples are found throughout the northwest side of Chicago, and the inner North and Northwest suburbs (Lincolnwood, Skokie, etc.). These free-spirited “developers” design their own projects, don’t follow code, ignore permit requirement”
Funny story about that. I live in SW lakeview right now, and two summers ago these polish contractors were working on the coach house next door completely rehabbing the place, inside and out.. and well what do ya know one day I see there’s a massive orange sticker reading “stop work order” due to lack of a building permit. So about 6-8 months pass and they finally finish the place. After the home spent an entire fall/winter/spring with no siding, rats living in the place (i saw them with my own eyes) and god knows how many bugs infested that place, they fixed it up new and are renting out the place for $2800 a month!
Now, get this on the same exact property, the landlord decides to start working on the main 4 flat, well they put these massive steel plates in the street causing a huge BUMP BUMP noise every time someone drives across it, and they completely rip all the stairs and front facade off the place, and then guess what, a month later, BAM! Another giant orange sticker for a stop work order for guess what? Lack of building permit! What a fucking moron this landlord must be!
Glad this is on a cul de sac…less traffic exposed to this eyesore.
omfg!!!
If I were so inclined as to buy this, well, first they’d need to drop the ask by about 150k.
Then they’d need to tack on a $250k credit to renovate the outside and turn the guard tower into a…I forget what it’s called. Also to remove the entry way.
Either that, or I’d have to go all the way and use the $250k credit to put murder holes into the entryway, build a gate and drawbridge, put a ballista on that tower, and build an outer wall to protect my home from marauding bands of angry neighbors. And a moat. Filled with sharks with frickin laser beams.
I still can’t believe how retarded that looks.
People on crack should not build.
Wow… that’s really… something.
Put these obvious facts aside and you have a pretty nice house!
1) The owner is attempting to quadruple his initial investment ($256k to $1,050,000) over a 5 1/2 year period with no more than $200k investment…what do watchtowers go for in this area? LOL GREED to the extreme.
2) fugly exterior that does not fit in the ‘hood
3) the mostly horrid furnishings (check out the aluminum fish over the console in the dining room, LOL)and the nutty color scheme
So, in the end, he should have purchased this ‘nice’ bungalow, do a bit of updating….of course keeping it true to it’s original design and left it at that.
CRAZY…..RIDICULOUS house!!
Was this really a bungalow before the re-hab? I’m not seeing it. It looks to me like all the exterior “decoration” is just that–add-ons to a standard balloon frame box.
“HOLY FUCK I just looked at the pictures, do they know every single one of their neighbors is LAUGHING at them?”
Not true – there is one neighbor not laughing, maybe two… if you look at it on Google maps streetview, you’ll see 2 houses down looks like a castle, too. I feel bad for the guy in the middle.
Maybe the same guy owns both, is super rich and doesn’t like the guy with the house in between?
If you were uber-rich and didn’t like someone you could just buy up properties next door to them and fuglyize them. Thats the reason they call high-net worth individuals with 10MM+ “F U money”.
I think he’s just trying to force his neighbor out, so he can build a dragon’s lair in between the two castles.
There’s another “Million Dollar House” at 5826 N. Kolmar. Three of the new design guide authors live across the street. I think it inspired the booklet.
Nice looking place, actually. Much more elegant than the homes that surround it. Owner did a good job. Not a fan of the area, though.
It looks like it has been dropped to 899k according to the realtor’s website.
Nothing adds to an austere “castle feel” like a detached garage.