Own a Piece of France in the Gold Coast: A 6-Bedroom SFH at 1515 N. State Parkway
This 6-bedroom vintage mansion at 1515 N. State Parkway in the Gold Coast came on the market in November 2020.
Built in 1898, the house is on a larger than standard 30×130 lot and has a 1-car garage.
It also has an elevator.
The listing says it has gone through a multi-year renovation.
Yet it still has many of its extraordinary vintage features including 6 fireplaces, carved ceilings, paneled wood walls and crown molding.
The dining room has original wall paneling.
The entry foyer has a fireplace and the original coffered ceiling along with a checkerboard floor.
But the house now also has quite a few features imported from France.
The listing says the kitchen, which is on the main floor, is a “dream kitchen” with an island crafted from wormy chestnut, a La Cornue range and 400+ year old reclaimed stone flooring and a wood burning fireplace from Provence, France along with a beamed ceiling.
The nearby family room on the main floor has an antique French mantel.
And just to mix a little Swiss into it, there is a separate billiard room with paneling from a Swiss hunting lodge.
All the door, window and cabinet hardware is either gold or sterling plated from Bronze de France, Paris.
The living and dining room, along with a Butler’s pantry with a Wolf range, and a library are on the second floor.
There are also two bedrooms on the second floor and four bedrooms on the third floor.
The primary suite has an antique fireplace as well as an en suite bathroom.
The house has a basement with an exercise room.
There’s also several outdoor spaces including a courtyard with a fountain and a large stone terrace off the second floor.
It has central air.
Listed at $9.35 million for 9,680 square feet, is this mansion a vintage lover’s dream?
Timothy Salm at Jameson Sotheby’s has the listing. See the pictures here and watch the video which has more pictures of some of the rooms including the bathrooms.
1515 N. State Parkway: 6 bedrooms, 5 full baths, 2 half baths, 9680 square feet
- Lis pendens filed in May 2006
- Bank owned in August 2008
- Sold in September 2008 for $3.8 million
- Originally listed in November 2020 for $9.35 million
- Currently still listed at $9.35 million
- Taxes of $124,568
- Central Air
- 1-car garage
- Elevator
- 6 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 15×28 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 15×21 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 15×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #4: 15×21 (third floor)
- Bedroom #5: 15×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #6: 21×21 (third floor)
- Living room: 18×25 (second floor)
- Dining room: 15×21 (second floor)
- Library: 11×19 (second floor)
- Family room: 20×19 (main floor)
- Kitchen: 18×17 (main floor)
- Breakfast room: 12×13 (main floor)
- Den: 14×17 (main floor)
- Foyer: 12×8 (main floor)
- Exercise room: 20×18 (basement)
- Laundry room: 7×7 (third floor)
- Terrace: second floor
Was ready to put in an offer but the TV over the fireplace killed the deal.
Spectacular and they didn’t paint the woodwork white.
Absolutely spectacular.
Though at this price point, I think I’d go for a waterfront residence on the north shore with a view and yard and hire a black car driver to get downtown.
What a beautiful house. I’ve walked through dozens of magnificent old mansions in my life, on house tours, or as a guest, in my life, and while I’ve seen many that are far larger, I have seen almost none more beautiful.
It’s well worth the asking price to someone in the appropriate wealth bracket, and is really far more worth it than similarly priced penthouses that I’ve seen around town. The details and workmanship are just dazzling. Given that, unlike a penthouse, you have a large amount of land all to yourself, even the taxes are not excessive, and surely wouldn’t bother anyone rich enough to think of owning a place like this
The 2008 buyer really got an incredible deal.
“The 2008 buyer really got an incredible deal.”
The 2008 buyer “spared absolutely no expense during a multi-year renovation of this one-of-a-kind property.”
Hard to know if they got a “deal” at all, without understanding what they put into it–according to the owner in Crain’s, they spent over $5.5m on the restoration:
https://www.chicagobusiness.com/residential-real-estate/restored-gold-coast-mansion-sale-over-9-million
So, NO, not an “incredible deal”.
Well then, anon, if that is the case, they might not have gotten an “incredible” deal, but they still got a good one, and the house is now a good deal at the price offered.
It’s a perfect mansion in that it’s just the right size,large but not gigantic, with perfect architecture and really exceptional original details. It’s not some overscaled monster that nobody who isn’t Jeff Bezos or Bill Gates can support, which is why there are so many huge, beautiful old mansions and castles around the world crumbling into total ruin.
“they still got a good one”
They apparently will lose money on the sale–that’s pretty much the definition of a “bad deal” in real estate.
I’ll slightly disagree with both Laura and anon(tfo): I think they probably got a good deal in 2008 for the location, size of building/lot and quality of the building, unless the place was mold infested or something.
The reason they are losing money is that they over-spent on the “spare no expense” renovation. It’s hard to know without seeing the before pix, but it looks like they were renovating for their own tastes and not thinking about eventual resale.
Yes, everything there is very high quality, but of the small number of buyers at this tier, only a very small percentage will love the swiss hunting lodge panelling or 400 year old stone floor (or some other detail) enough to pay the extra million or two for them. (i.e. a well thought out $3 million renovation (rather than $5.5M) would likely have produced a place they could have sold at a profit.
“I think they probably got a good deal in 2008 for the location, size of building/lot and quality of the building, unless the place was mold infested or something.”
Could be!
I dunno that paying approximately market for a place you are going to (nearly) complete redo can qualify as a ‘good deal’, and/but it’s also kinda hard to judge a “deal” on an unique (or nearly so) asset until you sell, right? Perhaps you were bidding against yourself?
Sabrina: Usually you cross reference earlier Crib chatter on a property— I was looking to see if there were any prior sales and found your write-up on the property from 2008: http://cribchatter.com/?p=4238
Apparently the place had been for sale for just under $5 Million for a while before going to auction. The pictures of the public rooms that you included, didn’t look too bad, but no kitchen or bathroom pix.
“Yes, everything there is very high quality, but of the small number of buyers at this tier, only a very small percentage will love the swiss hunting lodge panelling or 400 year old stone floor (or some other detail) enough to pay the extra million or two for them. (i.e. a well thought out $3 million renovation (rather than $5.5M) would likely have produced a place they could have sold at a profit.”
I am not certain they were strictly profit motivated and suspect that had Mr. Solomon not switched employers they might still live here. Guessing this was a hobby project for someone with money to burn.
My dad worked for Lazard Freres before I was born (we are talking in the 1960s). Back in the day when Andre Meyer would inquire about an employee’s growing family to make small talk in the elevator (kid you not…legend has it he had a photographic memory and would inquire about a child BY NAME!!) I have always wondered how much better off we might have been had my dad not decided to try and start his own business but instead accept the comfort of a steady pay check at a pretty lucrative employer. I doubt we would have been *this* well off, but holy freaking moly. Surely better off.
This is the kind of place I long dreamed of owning but never got rich enough to consider. Even if I were rich, my kids are pretty much grown up now and I don’t need the space. But it is the kind of old-world space that no one messed with and retains its vintage touches. So elegant compared with anything built today.
The price would be a bargain for a similar place in Manhattan, but looks more like the type of price you’d see for Washington, D.C., where there are many lovely 19th century townhomes like this.
One sad thing about being my age, almost 50, with kids ages 21 and 17, is that you outgrow the need for a place like this. Not that I could ever have afforded it, mind you.
Then even when daydreaming about it, you think, well, how many years would I truly have to enjoy living there if I did have the money? If I’m lucky, 25-30, but far less if I’m unlucky. I know I’m not that old, but you start seeing your choices narrow.