More Space Than a Single Family Home: 2044 W. Farwell in West Rogers Park
This 3-bedroom vintage unit at 2044 W. Farwell in West Rogers Park was built in 1920 but converted into condos in 2004.
It has all the bells and whistles of modern living including central air, in-unit washer/dryer, a completely renovated kitchen with stainless steel appliances and a garage.
Additionally, the condo has all the vintage features of 1920s architecture including huge living spaces, crown molding and a built-in custom pantry.
The unit also has 500 square feet of unfinished basement space that could be duplexed.
If you have guests come to town and they want more privacy, the listing says there is a common studio guest suite available for no extra charge.
Is this a single family home alternative?
Deborah Hess at Conlon Real Estate has the listing. See more pictures and a virtual tour here.
Unit #1E: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, 2650 square feet
- Sold in August 2004 for $326,000
- Originally listed in July 2009 for $364,900
- Reduced
- Currently listed for $349,900
- Assessments of $342 a month (includes heat and gas)
- Taxes of $1240
- Central Air
- Washer/Dryer in the unit
- Private deck
- Bedroom #1: 13×14
- Bedroom #2: 14×12
- Bedroom #3: 10×10
- Living room: 23×18
- Dining room: 18×15
- Kitchen: 13×10
I love that park over there.
seriuosly who is hiding under lucy’s bed?
I was just viewing this place on the multilist the other day, and toying with the idea of moving to West Ridge to have something like this. This is a really beautiful apartment.
However, this is a rapidly deteriorating area, beware. This price is Peak Price for this apartment, and I would discount it 20% just on principle. We’re past peak and this neighborhood has a lot of problems it didn’t have five years ago. It’s way too close to Howard St, and there are numerous blighted buildings in the area stuffed with problem tenants.
West Ridge and West Rogers Park further west are stuffed with elegant old buildings like this. The quality and beauty of these places is incredible. The architecture is just gorgeous around here, and I hope this neighborhood can be saved.
That’s a *lovely* 4+1 next door. Real charmer.
have a friend who bought a modest 2 bedroom near this place back in 2003. comps in his place have sold for less than he paid in recent months, so I have to believe this should be less.
I like it though, cool apartments in w rogers park.
It is lovely, but Laura is right. I spend a fair amount of time in the neighborhood, and it’s really circling the drain right now. There’s been some investment along Howard, but east of the CTA station it deteriorates rapidly-many empty store fronts and a lot of police activity. There has been an uptick of street violence in the area.
Values there aren’t likely to recover anytime soon. Better to look east of Sheridan.
laura,
has it really gotten that bad in the area? i was at the park this summer and didnt see the change, well didnt venture into the neighborhood. and i remember as a teen and had a highschool friend over there, that if you went north east of the park it got sketchy but west and south west it was nice. (thats like 20 years ago).
its sad that the area has took a bad turn, i like the place it nice, not digging the patio.
can anyone tell if thats a person under that bed?
It does look like it Groove; as if there is a person crawling under, with their feet protruding at the foot of the bed…?
Odd.
Cute room though. Nice home, lots of space, but I know nothing of the neighborhood. I’ll defer to Laura on this one.
It is a step stool. The angle makes it look like two feet.
It’s either one of those miniature staircases so the lil one can get into bed or someone is very camera shy.
Groove, it really has gotten this bad. I live close to Sheridan & Pratt in E. Rogers Park, and walk the neighborhood extensively in the summer, enjoying the trees & flowers & architecture. Have taken hundreds of photos. I walk Edgewater, Rogers Park, West Ridge, and am only nervous at the north end of Rogers Park, and yes, West Ridge and West Rogers Park these days. There are too many signs of spreading blight and disorder you didn’t see there even 5 years ago when I made an offer (rejected) on a place in the Warren Park area. Now I’m glad it was rejected, though I almost wept at the time.
The slippage is immediately apparent when I go west of Clark, along Jarvis, or Touhy, or Fargo. Damen Ave. has many old courtyard buildings turned into shelters for substance addicts. There are dozens of non-profits and Project Section 8 buildings in the area. One courtyard at the corner of Pratt and Ridge that was pristine five years ago is now filled with guys who look like thugs, the door is propped open and the courtyard is overgrown with weeds and scrubby patches of grass.
West of Western seems OK till you get to the area around Devon. There, along the streets off Devon like Washtenaw and Sacremento, many of the elegant old 3-flats with their big, beautiful units are filling up with large families, many doubling up- lots of dwelling overcrowding. The buildings look increasingly scruffy and unkempt. Lots of gang activity around Warren Park, east of Western.
Totally makes sense, Russ. Lucy is probably the littler of the two sisters judging by her twin size bed and the guard rail attached, so it seems likely she’d need a boost at the foot of the bed. Good call.
This building, on Farwell, between Ridge and Western, is in a nice area. I have not seen the blight that Laura is referring to in this pocket of West Ridge.
I think that RP further North and East, has far more problems.
I agree, though, that this is a beautiful apartment priced too high.
These taxes seem very low.
Is anyone else a little bothered by the “common area guest suite”?
I can’t imagine having people over and sending them to a “studio guest suite” used by the rest of the building. Gross.
“These taxes seem very low.”
I would bet on a renovation/preservation tax credit that will expire sometime in the future.
That is one very beautiful block of Farwell, to be sure.
But what is happened is that a large portion of E. Rogers Park, mostly east of the el and from Farwell on south is “clean” while the more troublesome areas lie between the el and W. Ridge, the worst being further north. But there are pockets of blight spreading where there definitely were not five years ago.
I tell you, it is distressing to see one of my fave neighborhoods so threatened.
thank you laura,
20 years ago those few blocks west of western more towards the cemetery was alot of big irish families and some good white collar middle class families few blocks north of devon and few blocks east of western.
northside is filled with beautiful apartment buildings that are falling under disrepair, it sucks.
“filling up with large families, many doubling up- lots of dwelling overcrowding”
this is not just a rodgers park problem belmont-craing is experiencing this too.
Jon, I’ve recently seen that type of “guest suite” being offered in a new high-rise rental development on Clark just north of Roosevelt (by the South Loop Target). You rent it just like a hotel room. I thought it was a little odd myself for the reason you stated.
lol, it does kindof look like 2 feet.
I wouldn’t think that putting your guests in the guest suite would be any “grosser” than housing them in a hotel. If you’re concerned about hygiene, put your own bedding and towels there for the duration of their stay.
But, come to think of it, hotel rooms CAN be gross. I was pretty grossed out reading of bedbugs in five-star London hotels. Sort of kills the urge to travel.
I’ll never look at hotel rooms again since when I saw on TV they did a blacklight test on the sheets… 🙁
No, of course not Laura, it’s totally the same skeeve factor. But I was thinking “odd” more along the lines of, “hey mom, come visit me, but uh, you can’t stay in my place and instead, here’s this random guest suite that anyone remotely affiliated with anyone in this building can also stay in.” At least with hotels, you know the type of hotel you’re staying in and therefore the type of “clientele” they *generally* cater to…
A suite like that is nice if you are having a large number of people, say your mom plus your sister and brother-and-law and their 2 kids. Or friends you haven’t seen in years who might feel uncomfortable in the same house. Or you’re full up with your own family. It is really like a spare bedroom, in that your guest can show up for breakfast and dinner, yet have a little privacy.
I definitely hear you. I can see the value in it, but it’s just that *I* personally wouldn’t feel comfortable using it or having my family and friends stay there, therefore it wouldn’t necessarily be a selling point for me. To each their own, of course!
I think the comments about the area are way off base. To say it is going down the drain may sound quite dramatic but also a total misrepresentation. This area has low crime & is very quiet family-type neighborhood. The houses just west of this property on Pratt are incredible & the newly remodeled (and fancier than most) Dominick’s is right around the corner. Has close proximity to lots of green space & golf at Warren Park as well…Many people lump in the area west of Ridge (West Ridge) with the more problematic area in Rogers Park East. They are very different spots. The cultural, ethnic & financial profiles are quite different between West Ridge & Rogers Park. Rogers Park has had many of the same problems since the 70s but there are areas that have steadily improved over the last few years. Morse Avenue being an example…Now if the area could just get a real Alderman…
We were so happy to leave this area a few years ago. It is definitely slipping and is not on the same upward tick it was ten years ago. There are many beautiful buildings, but there is a glut of apartments/condo buildings and many section 8 rentals. Anyone checking into West Ridge/West Rogers Park should do a LOT of driving around, driving through alleys (notorious rat problems due to too many restaurants, overcrowded buildings, third world attitudes toward sanitation). And be sure to drive around at night. It’s fine for young people who work all day, but not good for families as the local school is overcrowded and dismal. There is a reason properties are so cheap here! One’s life in this area will never be dull, though, that is for sure!
We moved to this neighborhood from downtown last year (not too far from this listing.) We LOVE it! Great neighbors, beautiful community and safe. Yes you have to endure some of the problems that go with living in a city, but it is not a war zone.
I agree that there some pocket of the Rogers Park area that are not pleasant. However, this is not one of them.
My friends who live in the area send their kids to Stone Academy (public magnet), Roger’s Park Montessori, Chicago Waldorf and Baker Demonstration. While these are not neighborhood schools, they are all very good and close-by.
Stone is a lottery school with 40 spots for kindergarten, and over a thousand applicants for those 40 spots. RP Montessori, Baker and Waldorf each cost in excess of $10K per child per year (Baker is close to $15K). There is a nearby parochial school which has been on the brink of closing for years. A family who moves into this neighborhood will have limited options and will have to depend on a lot of luck if a reasonably good public school is desired. Caveat emptor!
Laura, can you be more specific? Do you have the statistics to compare the number of residents that are utilizing section 8 to pay their rent, non-profits and shelters against other areas of the city? What does the presence of non profits have to do with a neighborhood in decline? The West Ridge Rogers Park Historical Society at 7244 N Western Ave is a non profit in an area of the neighborhood you deem extremely dangerous. Maybe you should stop by one day and learn a little more about the area.
I moved from Sheridan and Hollywood and can tell you there were plenty of problems in that area as well. Lot’s of crime and those old high-rises are just falling apart and also look unkept compared to what they looked like years ago. Quite honestly, I don’t know how you can think Sheridan and Pratt such a great area.
I moved to West Ridge 7 years ago. It’s not a neighborhood without problems but (in my opinion) it is not as bad as what you describe. As an active resident in the community, I feel that your posts undermine all the hard work of the many people and organizations do to keep this area strong and vibrant.
I’d like to call to your attention to a few positives…there are loads of lovely historic homes in West Ridge which drew my partner and I here. It’s also very diverse, a good thing for a gay couples like us. We’re very close to places like Andersonville and Lincoln Square without the high taxes and congestion that goes along with living in areas that dense and trendy. I can park in front of my house and the stores and restaurants on Devon are very convenient, especially if you live within walking distance. We have three great parks, Warren, Indian Boundary and Green Briar where I can take my dog. Indian Boundary has a council that helps guide programs and landscaping projects. Green Briar is on the way to doing the same. There is easy access to Lake Shore Drive and the Edens expressway. It’s not Lincoln Park or Sauganash, but it’s certainly not as bad as you seem to think it is. With the economy in the toilet, how can anyone speculate where any neighborhood is headed these days anyway?
“John on October 25th, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Laura, can you be more specific? Do you have the statistics to compare the number of residents that are utilizing section 8 to pay their rent, non-profits and shelters against other areas of the city? What does the presence of non profits have to do with a neighborhood in decline? ”
I’m not Laura, but this is a great question, which I would bet neither Laura nor I could answer definitively, because it’s almost impossible to track down real statistics on the number of subsidized/low-income units in any given area. It’s as if the info were intentionally kept hidden.
If anyone has any real sources that can easily provide that kind of info, I’d be glad to see it. But, people who live in a neighborhood know what kinds of tenants live in a building, or which buildings are low-income buildings, and they see what goes on, if the management is lax. In addition, I believe if you were to try to get crime statistics by ADDRESS, you will find that info has been neutered, such that it only gives the block number, not a house number. I’ve been told that the change from providing exact house number on crime reports to only providing the block number was pushed exactly by non-profits managing subsidized housing, claiming it was an invasion of privacy to have exact house numbers!
Nice “flip the script”… Using a “right to privacy” argument to obscure factual info on crime.
Neighborhood aside, you have to admit that the virtual tour makes this unit look like a desirable ‘flat’. Tastefully decorated, lots of natural sunlight, high quality photographs, minimally furnished. It looks like it could be a very pleasant place to live.
Jane, literally everyone on our block goes to Stone Academy—there are 62 spots not 40…St. Phillip is an affordable alternative as are others…