North Center 7-Bedroom 1891 Victorian is Still Available: 1904 W. Patterson
This 7-bedroom Queen Anne Victorian at 1904 W. Patterson in North Center has been on and off the market since April 2015.
We last chattered about it in May 2018 when the sales price had been cut nearly 50%.
Many of you liked the property and were surprised that it hadn’t sold after the price cuts. Icarus even said he would buy it after he won the lottery.
See our chatter here.
But it’s now 20 months later and the house is still available.
If you recall, it was built in 1891 on a bigger than standard 62.5 x 125 corner fenced in lot.
It has a large wrap around porch, a 3-car garage, a sport court and a brick and bluestone patio.
At 8,000 square feet, it has 7 bedrooms and the preferred layout buyers like, with the bedrooms on both the second and third floors.
There are no bedrooms in the basement.
There’s a lower level exercise room and sauna as well as a game room.
It also has an interesting feature in the top floor turreted room which was detailed in the prior listing but is no longer mentioned: an “office/smoking room with ventilation system.”
The house has an eat-in kitchen with white cabinets, stainless steel appliances and stone counter tops.
It has central air and 3 fireplaces as well as extensive wood work and moldings.
There’s a second level deck.
Originally listed in April 2015 for $3,999,999, it has been reduced numerous times and is now listed about 50% less at $1,899,000.
In 2018, the listing had it listed as being in Lakeview. But it’s clearly in the North Center neighborhood.
Is the neighborhood the problem?
What will it take to finally sell this property?
Jeff Lowe at Compass now has the listing. You can see the pictures here.
1904 W. Patterson: 7 bedrooms, 7.5 baths, 8000 square feet, 3 car garage
- Sold in November 1998 for $650,000
- Originally listed in April 2015 for $3,999,999
- Reduced
- Was listed in August 2016 at $2.55 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in May 2018 at $1.990 million
- Reduced
- Currently listed at $1.899 million
- Taxes are now $46,765 (they were $48,377 in May 2018 and $27,835 in August 2016)
- Central Air
- 3 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 20×16 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 21×16 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 14×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 12×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #5: 17×16 (third floor)
- Bedroom #6: 13×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #7: 11×10 (third floor)
- Turreted office/smoking room: 13×13 (third floor)
- Exercise room: 18×16 (lower level)
It’s soooooo beautiful. I guess it takes a pretty unique buyer to be willing to spend north of 1.5 million on a house that still needs updated kitchen and baths. But I would love to live there. And I would keep all of the wallpaper as-is!
There are other homes in this price range in this area (not listed now, check sales), but they’re new builds or guts, not an older home like this.
Beautiful from the street, and I like the interior even though it’s very Pottery Barn. I think the new lower price makes sense and someone should buy it for somewhere in this range.
The one caveat for me is that this part of Lakeview (North Center) is kind of sleepy, or at least it used to be. I’d rather be closer to the Southport Corridor. That said, Lincoln has become more interesting over the decades, and with Whole Foods now over by Belmont and Lincoln, there’s a lot more shopping around here now than back in the 80’s.
I don’t think it’s so much the fact that buyers want perfectly updated move-in ready places for that price. Well, they do, but that’s not the primary factor for why it’s sitting. It’s that the buyer pool for an 8000-sq foot residence with 7 bedrooms in that location has got to be incredibly small. Who wants that large of a house anymore??? Millennials sure don’t. And the house is ginormous but the kitchen looks like what I’d expect to see in a 2-BR condo. Totally misaligned with today’s buyers. The maintenance and taxes will be insane on it (after already investing a ton I updates).
I do like it from an architecture perspective though. It’s absolutely a piece of art and I’d expect it would have sold already if it was 3000 sq ft and 4 BRs (even with an outdated kitchen) as there is a much larger buyer pool for a property like that.
“Millennials sure don’t.”
————————-
And the younger millennials and later cohorts are moving to the burbs now.
Interesting, but way too big for me personally.
I love this place and have been watching it to see what it would eventually sell at. It’s defintely too big for me, and out of my price range (and I’m not in the market, although it was on sale with I was), so that’s just curiosity.
$4 m in this neighborhood was just not workable, especially when it clearly is going to take some work, and when most seeking to buy in this area aren’t going to necessarily want this size. Is under $2m more reasonable? Don’t know.
I wouldn’t have any issues with the neighborhood; North Center and Southport aren’t all that different in feel these days. I wouldn’t call it sleepy so much as very child- and family-centered.
So, directly across Patterson, a brand new giant house went up on the same size lot (62′ wide). That land, which had a building on a portion of it, sold for $1.5m, which pretty well establishes the teardown value.
There is *another* huge house going up on the west end of the block (alley adjacent), north side of Patterson, on 60′ of land, which cost ~$1.35m.
There’s something about Patterson at the moment (perhaps it’s North Bucktown now!), and it’s a bit surprising this one hasn’t moved.
This one is pending for the third time this year.
Have to believe that the intent is teardown and start over–just a question of 1 or 2 houses.
Under contract.
Is it a different one from the one in December?
Doesn’t look like it in the listing.
“Is it a different one from the one in December?”
Is what a “different one”?
Same house we’ve chattered about. Same half court basketball court on the bigger than standard lot. Under contract.
The contract, duh.
Look at my comment just above yours from December:
“This one is pending for the third time this year.”
“The contract, duh.”
Don’t know anon(tfo). You’re the realtor, not me.
If you verbally abuse me, I’ll delete your comments.
I’m just not going to take the abuse anymore. Either talk about housing or get off this site.
Would you kindly delete your abuse of me, then, too?
You want to call me a realtor? Beyond the pale.
“You want to call me a realtor? Beyond the pale.”
Being called a real estate agent is “abuse”?
Wow. I’d want to be one right now given the hot market. Lots of people are having record years. Record numbers of people becoming real estate agents now too.
Heck, even I’m thinking about it. Lol.
“Being called a real estate agent is “abuse”?”
Yes.
“Wow. I’d want to be one right now given the hot market. Lots of people are having record years. Record numbers of people becoming real estate agents now too.
Heck, even I’m thinking about it. Lol.”
I’ll take signs that the RE market is going to crash for $1000 Alex
You have bigger issues than I thought anon(tfo). Wow. Maybe time to step back from this blog for a few months.
“I’ll take signs that the RE market is going to crash for $1000 Alex”
Housing market isn’t going to “crash.” Not enough inventory for such an event to happen.
Chicago is at record low inventories. Multiple offers. Very tight. And because we aren’t in Stacy’s subdivision in Florida where prices have gone up 100% in 2 years, we’re still affordable even if mortgage rates rise.
Will still take a long time for inventory to build in the super hot cities too. But if affordability becomes an issue, it will eventually happen.
“Housing market isn’t going to “crash.” Not enough inventory for such an event to happen.” – This is false. But go live your dream!
“Chicago is at record low inventories. Multiple offers. Very tight. And because we aren’t in Stacy’s subdivision in Florida where prices have gone up 100% in 2 years, we’re still affordable even if mortgage rates rise.” – Where’s the appreciation? Outside of a few hoods its null or negative
“Will still take a long time for inventory to build in the super hot cities too. But if affordability becomes an issue, it will eventually happen.”
Words
“Words”
If only people on this site would bother to look at Gary’s excellent monthly updates, they’d see all the data staring right in front of them.
But then, their delusions that Chicago’s housing market is about to crash imminently, isn’t red-hot, and that Chicago is doomed would be in question. Can’t have that.
Crain’s reported today that 3 properties have gone under contract, 2 have closed, over $8 million, in the past 2 weeks. 2 of the 3 weren’t listed and one was privately listed.
Sizzle.
One condo in No 9 Walton in the Gold Coast and 2 single family homes in Lincoln Park.
The market is on fire. But mortgage rates continue to rise. Buyers know they need to buy now because in another 2 or 3 months, rates will be above 4%. That’s going to be hard, psychologically, to swallow, after rates were in the 2s in 2020.
But in 2018, rates went to 5% pretty quickly from 3.6% in 2016. It DID slow the Chicago housing market. But we weren’t at this low of inventory either.