French Gothic Vintage Mansion Renovated to the Studs: 1449 N. Astor in the Gold Coast
This 6-bedroom French Gothic mansion at 1449 N. Astor in the Gold Coast came on the market in August 2020.
Built in 1911, the house is all limestone and has 5-levels on a 33×125 lot.
It has a 2.5 car attached garage.
The house also has an elevator.
The listing says it has been “renovated down to the studs.”
The house has custom mill work, including on the ceilings, and crown molding.
It has 5 fireplaces.
The main floor has the entry foyer, the game room, the family room and mud room along with a breezeway that connects the house to the garage.
There’s also a courtyard outdoor space on the main level.
The second floor has the living and dining rooms, a den, and the kitchen.
The house has a de Giulo kitchen with a massive wood island and luxury appliances.
It also overlooks a second floor deck that features a grilling area, chef’s table with bar seating and lounge seating area.
The primary suite is on the third floor with a walk-in-closet, a dressing room, an en suite bath and a private library.
There’s a home office on this level which the listing says can be turned into another bedroom, if need be.
The fourth floor has 4 en suite bedrooms.
The house has a basement with two recreation rooms, one which could be used as an exercise room.
The basement also has the laundry room.
Like other Gold Coast mansions, it has a massive skylight.
The house has central air.
Located on famous Astor Street, it’s near Lincoln Park and is a short stroll to the shops and restaurants of Old Town.
If you were looking for a family home in this neighborhood, would this house be at the top of your list?
Joshua Wiedow and Stephen Bognar Jr. at Baird & Warner have the listing. See the pictures and floor plan here.
1449 N. Astor: 6 bedrooms, 6 baths, 4 partial baths, 10,000 square feet
- Sold in May 2006 for $3.5 million
- Sold in April 2010 for $4,926,500
- Originally listed in August 2020 for $7.875 million
- Currently still listed at $7.875 million
- Taxes of $98,963
- Central Air
- 2.5 car garage
- 5 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 18×28 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 24×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 18×16 (fourth floor)
- Bedroom #4: 15×11 (fourth floor)
- Bedroom #5: 13×17 (fourth floor)
- Bedroom #6: 17×13 (fourth floor)
- Living room: 18×29 (second floor)
- Dining room: 15×15 (second floor)
- Kitchen: 17×20 (second floor)
- Den: 11×11 (second floor)
- Library: 12×12 (third floor)
- Walk-in-closet: 10×16 (third floor)
- Foyer: 15×22 (main floor)
- Game room: 15×28 (main floor)
- Family room: 24×21 (main floor)
- Playroom: 24×13 (lower level)
- Recreation room: 27×24 (lower level)
Nice one today!
Extremely tasteful renovation. The designer deserves all the awards. I won’t ding them too bad for the TV over fireplace as it’s in the den.
the outdoor spaces are extremely well done and this is a $100k pergola
Trying to date the rehab as I don’t think it’s 10 years old. When were glass door refrigerators introduced? the carpets are too close to the WBFP, Which makes me think it’s staged
Beautiful home though the renovation is a little too vanilla considering what they had to work with — a turn of the century French Gothic mansion on Astor — could have done something spectacular.
Tuesday’s wins mansion week for me. I prefer renovations and decor that are more sensitive to the period and style of the home.
Awesome. Though whenever I’ve walked past this place, I’ve thought that the beautiful foyer left much to be desired in terms of privacy (passersby can look straight in).
“When were glass door refrigerators introduced?”
“Sub-Zero recently added see-through glass doors as an option”
The Refrigerator Cold War
In Competition for High End, Makers Offer New Features; Digital Readouts for Meat
By Heather Won Tesoriero Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Feb. 6, 2004 12:01 am ET
https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB107602338588722317
“makes me think it’s staged”
I’m sure it is–but wouldn’t you take the Duke pillows out? Pretty distasteful.
I am disappointed by the interior but if I had to choose only between yesterdays’ gut reno and this, this one wins by a country mile. How this one has a lower tax bill is another topic. I could definitely be comfortable here LOL. Gorgeous home.
One more thing:
Pretty sure this was a Fred Latsko project, and reno’d by him circa 2009.
… yes: https://latsko.com/1449-n-astor-st/
….And I should add, the disappointment stems from having seen that beauty at 1515 N State Parkway. I just cannot look at a rich person’s rehab of one of these gems the same ever again LOL. Everything else is “meh” by comparison!
“a lower tax bill is another topic”
It’s actually bang on for the last sale price.
But that’s after a couple of years of it being much higher–2017 bill was $140k. Looks like they did well at the Board of Review in the ’18 cycle.
A little bland, but overall well done.
My only real complaint is the amount of wasted space in the walk-in closet.
Not that I would be able to afford this place and even if I did, I don’t have enough clothing to fill it, but it still bugs me. A minor quibble, though, as I would imagine most people don’t have the same level of anxiety about these kinds of things!
Interesting to see the golf simulator thing. You have to wonder how many rounds a person living this deep in the city can play in a year. I know that before COVID, I always felt trapped due to gridlock on all 3 major freeways both ways, most of the times of the day. So, playing golf for me has become a non-starter because to commute to the course, play the round, and get back would be an 8 hour ordeal. Large chunk of time. Plus, no chance to just zip out at 3 pm and get in 18 before dark, not happening living in this location.
The room with the pool table isn’t staged, because the bar is stocked with expensive liquor. It’s fun to zoom in sometimes and see the books on the bookshelves. Sometimes you can bust some pervert with a Mapplethorpe book or something similar.
“I always felt trapped due to gridlock on all 3 major freeways both ways, most of the times of the day.”
Totally. When is Chicago and the North Shore going to look into commuter transport via boat, at least during the 9 months per year when significant ice on the lake isn’t an issue? Seems so obvious and would be great for tourism.
“The room with the pool table isn’t staged, because the bar is stocked with expensive liquor”
Pappy’s, Blantons, Bombay, Crystal skull, Johnny Walker
Nice but not total baller.
““Sub-Zero recently added see-through glass doors as an option”
The Refrigerator Cold War
In Competition for High End, Makers Offer New Features; Digital Readouts for Meat
By Heather Won Tesoriero Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Feb. 6, 2004 12:01 am ET”
Thanks Did not think its 16 years old
This looks like an elegant place to live and the renovations were done with care and attention to detail. It’s unfortunate most of the vintage detail appears to be gone, I can live with that in this case, unlike the one we saw yesterday where the renovation made it look like a condo in Deerfield.
“Pappy’s, Blantons, Bombay, Crystal skull, Johnny Walker”
… Patron, Lagavulin.
“Top Shelf”, but not really “reserve” or unusual.
“16 years old”
17!
One thing about the lack of vintage–this place appears to have been with the prior owner for something like 40+ years (hard to tell that far back) until his death in ’05, in his 90s, and sold to Latsko as an estate sale.
Anyplace with one owner for that long has a relatively high probability of being a mess, either from lack of maintenance, an ill-timed remuddling, or both.
Tasteful rehab that most people could easily live with.
“When is Chicago and the North Shore going to look into commuter transport via boat, at least during the 9 months per year when significant ice on the lake isn’t an issue?”
Why?
Let’s say you can get on it in Glencoe. You have to build a big dock. How will the passengers get to that dock? Will there be a parking lot nearby so people can park and ride?
For most of the North Shore, there isn’t exactly dense housing right near the lakeshore.
It would have to be a big boat to handle the nastiness that is Lake Michigan. BIG. I’ve been on one of the single level architectural tour boats on the lake for a half hour to the south side. That trip routinely gets cancelled if the weather is “bad.” But that’s a low level, smaller boat.
With a big boat, you’d probably have to dock in Chicago at Navy Pier (or thereabouts).
What good is that going to do a commuter?
By this time, you’re looking at a really long commute to anywhere in the Loop.
It’s just not a good use of money or resources. The city is much better off expanding the Water Taxi system on the Chicago River, especially when the 78 project gets going and Lincoln Yards develops.
And there are river boats that can run year round. They run them year round in Scandinavia. They can cut through ice.
The North Shore was meant to be vacation homes and the like when they originally built it. If you can’t handle the commute, move closer.
“You have to wonder how many rounds a person living this deep in the city can play in a year.”
Again, in case anyone doubted it, HH clearly does NOT live in Chicago.
Otherwise, he would be well aware that there are several golf courses actually IN the city. Doesn’t take you long to get to some of them, although getting to Harborside, depending on the time of day, could take a little bit longer.
Don’t have to go to the suburbs to golf. Can take Lake Shore Drive to several of them which would put this house in a prime location for a quick 9 holes.
Sold, 17 months after initial listing, for $6.5m, 18% lower than initial ask.
If the owner put no additional money into it (because prior to purchase it was “renovated to the studs”), the gain on sale for the 11.7 years would be = 2.4% per annum — a good return for high-tier Chicago re, especially since the tax bill increased 3x the rate of inflation.
This pin’s taxes rose 8.5% per annum from 2010 to 2020, a rate that would have been higher if the seller hadn’t gotten his 2020 AMV reduced to $4.56m. Fritz has jacked it back up to $5.3m for 2021, but that’s still 20% below sale price, a gift to the new owner of $1 million in untaxed re.
Compare this pin’s 2.4% cagr to other yardsticks for April 2010 to Jan 2022:
CPI-U All Items US City Average = 2.2%
CPI-U All Items Chicago = 1.8%
CPI-U Shelter US City Average = 2.8%
CPI-U Shelter Chicago = 2.4%
CPI-U OER US City Average = 2.7%
CPI-U OER Chicago = 2.4%
Case-Shiller National HPI = 5.8%
Case-Shiller Chicago HPI = 3.0%
Case-Shiller Chicago High-Tier HPI = 2.3%
This pin beat the index by 0.1% per annum, pretty good, if the owner sank no additional money in it.
US nominal GDP = 4.2%
US real GDP = 2.0%
Federal debt outstanding = 7.3%
Wilshire 5000 = 12.4%
Federal Reserve bank assets = +12.1%
Chicago property tax levy (2010–2021) = 6.3%
Property taxes 1449 N. Astor (2010-2020) = 8.5% pa
https://www.chicago.gov/content/dam/city/depts/obm/supp_info/2022Budget/2022BudgetForecastFINAL.pdf#page=53
1318 N. Astor has lowered its ask to $4 million, about what they paid back in 2001.
“Sold, 17 months after initial listing, for $6.5m, 18% lower than initial ask.”
Good for them. In years past, it might have taken them 5 to 7 YEARS to sell. Not 17 months.
Gold Coast has had a lot of single family homes on the market for a long, long time. It isn’t the neighborhood of choice for GenX or Millennials. Many of those, with kids, prefer Lincoln Park or Lakeview.
Also, it’s a hard neighborhood for younger people to be attracted to because the restaurants, grocery stores and such just aren’t there.
So the silent generation and Baby Boomer owners have been selling as they want to retire elsewhere but there are no buyers to replace them.
Most of the homes I’ve done “Gold Coast Mansion Week” on the last few years are STILL available. Or they have been taken off the market, unsold.
Things change and neighborhoods evolve. As prices come down in the Gold Coast, you may see some younger owners choose it. It will be interesting to see. Also, as I’ve said in the past, the addition of several new apartment buildings in the neighborhood should start the change over from those in their 80s to those in their 20s. The Gild and whatever the new tower is in the Barnes & Noble will start to change the tone of the neighborhood and should attract more new retail. A sign of this is that a new Abercrombie & Fitch has just opened on State and Elm.