Live Near the River in Ravenswood Manor: 2717 W. Windsor
This 3-bedroom stucco home at 2717 W. Windsor is one of the rare single family homes to come on the market near the Chicago River in Ravenswood Manor.
It is also just a few blocks from the Brown Line and a short stroll over to the shops in Lincoln Square.
The vintage home which was built in 1900 has hardwood floors throughout, beamed ceilings in the dining room, and 2 fireplaces.
The kitchen has been updated with granite counter tops and stainless steel appliances.
The listing says the attic is awaiting the buyer’s “finishing touches” and there is no central air conditioning. It does, however, have a 2-car garage and professionally done landscaping.
Diana Duvall at Baird & Warner has the listing. See all of the photos here.
2717 W. Windsor: 3 bedrooms, 3 baths, 2 car garage, no square footage listed
- I couldn’t find an original sale price- same owner since 1986
- Currently listed for $699,900
- Taxes of $7445
- No central air
- Bedroom #1: 19×16
- Bedroom #2: 17×12
- Bedroom #3: 11×8
- Attic: 39×9
Nice home, but for $700K, I’ll find something with Central Air already included.
Note that the 3d bedroom is a tandem with master.
Whether this is remotely worth it* depends in large part on how usable that 39×9 attic space is and what it would take to have a usable staircase to it.
*Note–I vote no, even if the layout for using the attic is as good as possible.
south of wilson and west side of river. no thanks.
550-575k is my guess.
They need to stop talking to their neighbors at cocktail parties how much they think their place is worth. This only has 3 bedrooms and no central air and thus isn’t worth 700k.
Clearly undervalued at $700k.
This sounds like it’s priced right.
Beautiful, large, sparkling clean house in a charming, safe, walkable neighborhood, surrounded by other nice homes. It’s staged well and has everything it really needs. Lack of C/A is perhaps not a handicap in a house like this.
It ought to go fast at this price, and I hardly ever say that about anything.
I know I wouldn’t mind paying 700k for a house without air conditioning…
“This sounds like it’s priced right.
Beautiful, large, sparkling clean house in a charming, safe, walkable neighborhood, surrounded by other nice homes. It’s staged well and has everything it really needs. Lack of C/A is perhaps not a handicap in a house like this.
It ought to go fast at this price, and I hardly ever say that about anything.”
Laura:
Did you note the tandem 3d bedroom? Unless the realtor is misusing the term, this place would live like a 2BR + nursery.
Bob’s est might be a little low–it depends on how close the attic is to being 2 BRs and if it could be easily plumbed for a bath. If this place were done (which would include CAC), it would be $700k, easy, I think.
Did the Realtor(TM) mean radiator heat not radiant heat? I see a steel radiator in the 2nd picture….
http://cribchatter.com/?p=7040
The above place in Lincoln Square sold for $525k.
The Windsor house is smaller, has a tandem 3rd bedroom, no central air, possibly more likely to get basement flooding, and is further from Lincoln Square.
Maybe the value is predicated on a $200k value for the stucco exterior.
not one bathroom photo of the 3 that exist. . .
Beju, I’m not an expert on the area, but I gotta figure the nicest part of Ravenswood Manor (which includes plenty of million-dollar homes) commands much higher prices than Lincoln Square (ESPECIALLY LS above Lawrence, as the house you reference is). I’d guess the only LS location that could even come close to RM would be the blocks of Leland immediately to the east of the Square.
Architect alert! Looks like an architect’s house, kitchen is a giveaway clue as is the white-white paint and the contemporary furniture/modern art decor. Architects’ houses are often quirky nonconformist homes that don’t meet the market dictates regarding bathroom count, bedroom count/size, CA, cabinet styles, etc. It’s because architects’ personal tastes often exceed their personal budgets, and their homes become compromise, compromise, compromise. So NO CA, no real 3rd bedroom (bet master bedrm was once two bedrms), and a kitchen only a Miesian architect could still love.
Ravenswood Manor attracts families with kids who are priced out of Lincoln Park and Lakeview SF houses. This architect had only one child, which is fairly common for us – it’s all we can afford!
Elegant house with nice finishes. Lincoln Square though? Meh…
Bob– how can you say $550-575k when you dont even have the sq. foot info?
Architecture is the lowest paid profession.
“Bob– how can you say $550-575k when you dont even have the sq. foot info?”
Because serpico, when they omit the square footage, it usually means its on the low side.
Real estate agents think they are being shrewd via selective disclosure of information, but in reality anybody who browses listings for any period of time knows that they really aren’t being shrewd as anything omitted is typically a negative.
Serpico:
RAVENSWOOD MANOR. Ever been there? Our kleptocratic governor used to live there. What does that tell you? Plenty of high-end houses, manicured lawns and elitist attitudes. Plus, it’s frickin’ BEAUTIFUL there.
Now, is that location worth an extra $200K for a house without A/C? That’s debatable. I walk through this area all the time, so I’d say yes, although I don’t have an extra $200K to throw at it myself.
Also, this house is located south of Wilson & the El tracks on a dead end street. Most likely very quiet here.
If the owner truly is an architect then prospective buyers should just wait for it to become a foreclosure.
Its not as if architecture is an in demand profession these days..
http://www.chicagorealestatedaily.com/cgi-bin/news.pl?id=34598
Ravenswood Manor is nice if you want to live in a little piece of Willamette in the city.
What if you just want a view of the former gov’na kissing his family goodbye before he heads off to his sentencing hearing and becomes incarcerated?
Oh wait I only need to rent here for one month for that amenity!
I’d shoot paintballs at him when he goes for his morning jog
“Our kleptocratic governor used to live there.”
Which one? We’ve had more than one in this state. Our gubernatorial retirement plan seems to include room and board provided by the feds.
Overpriced. While the inside looks pretty good, the outside of the house needs some work. Plus, it’s a joke to say the attic is awaiting the buyer’s ‘finishing touches.’ More accurately, they’re very costly finishing touches. I grew up in a historic 5 bedroom Victorian in Chagrin Falls. Before my parents installed an expensive central HVAC —that included the large attic— it was virtually unusable space (other than storage).
In summer it was more like a bikram yoga studio and a cold-meat storage facility in Winter rather than a large en suite bedroom/ office that it eventually became. The realtor is overstating things with the current listing, not to mention overpricing it, as well.
Good luck to the seller.
Agent is the owner. Architect is still principal employed at big firm.
I heard that Blago is driving a older-model clunker and that house is near foreclosure. He needs book royalty income and talk-show junket income ASAP.
Blago continues to amuse me. As the months go by I truly do believe he is disconnected from reality. A lot of people have financial issues, heck half the owners of properties featured on CC probably. A lot of them might even go bankrupt.
As a friend of several that have, I don’t think Blago truly comprehends the enormity of his predicament. His predicament is a lot worse than financial issues. Nobody goes to prison for being financially stupid–there’s probably not enough prison space in the world to house those in our country guilty of that. But yeah its obvious he’s worried about his family’s finances. So typical of one who has never spent a night in jail themself that he continues to deny reality.
I guess its the old cliche the bigger they are the harder they fall. In Blago’s case it couldn’t be truer. The owner might lose money on this place as they drank the Kool Aid themselves and their income has likely taken a hit in this environment, but they can console themselves that their problems are a shadow of Blagos.
Blagos future career options are pizza delivery or telemarketing credit cards after he gets sprung. And that’s assuming they don’t hand him a life sentence or the equivalent.
You got about eighteen months left Blago and thats being generous, I’d be plotting a lot more than book signings if I were in your shoes! (Maybe learning Swiss German and the art of getting a fake passport?)
Or he really cares about his family he could always take the more honorable way out and max out his life insurance and have a traffic accident where he goes over a cliff. It would be very uncharacteristic for an egomaniac to do this though.
The same voters who in their infinite wisdom re-elected Blago also voted our current president to his senate seat in 2006.
“The same voters who in their infinite wisdom re-elected Blago also voted our current president to his senate seat in 2006.”
Dude, you voted for Alan Keyes? Seriously, Alan Keyes? Obama had a walkover to the senate seat b/c the Illinois Republican Party is a *complete* joke, at least on statewide races.
Why bother voting in cook county anyway (if you’re on the other side)… unless you really enjoy that jury duty…
No I didn’t vote for Keyes, I left that one blank. Literally just left it blank. However, I can also proudly say that I voted for Poshard (D) instead of Ryan (R) in 2002, and Quigley (D) instead of the IL minuteman party leader (R) in the last election. But I’m getting off topic here, sorry.
I saw this house, and it is very nice, and very, very well staged. However, I don’t recall if it had a bathroom downstairs (please correct me if I am mistaken). To us, seemed a little pricey.
Put up a house in Ravenswood Manor, politics will inevitably arise, at least until Blago moves to the big house.*
But your post sez all anyone needs to know about the Ill Repubs–>*they* (the party leaders) elected Obama to Senate as much as anyone.
*Not the one in Ann Arbor.
Nicely staged, beautiful home. I’ll be interested to see what it ultimately sells for.
(anon (tfo) – excellent UM reference. Well done.)