Own a True Chicago Rowhouse: 204 W. St. Paul in Old Town
This brick rowhouse at 204 W. St. Paul was built in 1878 in what has now become the prime part of the Old Town neighborhood.
On the market since June of 2009, the home has been reduced by $54,000.
It has been renovated to reflect modern times. The first floor has been opened into one great space with the living and dining rooms combined into a great room.
The kitchen has marble floors and a subzero refrigerator.
The third bedroom is on the lower level and is currently being used as a family room.
There is no parking. But the rowhouse does have central air.
Douglas Bogenhagen at Urban Realty Group has the listing. See the pictures here.
204 W. St. Paul: 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, no square footage listed
- Sold in September 1991 for $257,000
- Sold in March 1999 for $350,000
- Sold in May 2004 for $655,000
- Listed in June 2009 for $729,000
- Reduced several times
- Currently listed for $675,000
- Taxes of $9131
- Central Air
- No Parking
- Fireplace
- Bedroom #1: 16×18
- Bedroom #2: 8×12
- Bedroom #3: 13×16 (lower level- currently being used as a family room)
- Living room/dining room: 16×23
- Kitchen: 12×14
- Utility room: 12×12 (lower level)
Is that a marble living room?
I won’t comment on the price because I’m not familiar with SFH in this area.
I’d say that the interior, for the most part, is very nice looking. I personally enjoy the mix of historic with the modern, but not uber-modern rehab. The property itself seems very small, as a lot of row houses were of that era.
Big pluses included that huge master bedroom which had a sitting area & office space. Both bath were gorgeous, starting to push ubermodern but could easily be toned down with the right accessories. The basement fam room had room for an office as well and looks to have decent ceiling hight. Kitchen is nice, I like the shelves that incorporate the ductwork. This sub-0 fridge seems excessive with just midgrade GE appliance.
Big minuses is not seperate maste bath, there a hall entrance too. Small crampt 2nd bedroom. No bath on the main level. Also, not really a 3 bedroom. The ‘3rd bedroom’ is open to the kitchen via the open stair case. No parking-obviously. The liv & dinning are a bit small.
The main level Liv/dining is definitly hard wood; I assume your referring to the ‘basement’ family room and/or 3rd bedroom. That space looks like slate to me. Could be marble, but I believe that you don’t (shouldn’t) put marble onto a basement concrete slab due to moisture issue. Slate is suppossedly fine on basement concrete floor. Not sure, never looked into it or attempted (I prefer to live above ground)-maybe one of our resident professional rehabbers could comment.
I really like what they did, having seen an unrenovated neighboring unit a few years ago. If you like the location and can live without parking why not dive in?
$755k = Cramped and claustrophobic
$375k = spacious and a great buy.
Why exactly is this double the 1999 price?
That second bedroom is a joke, does the resident fall through the doorway and into bed?
How about $675 HD?
$(6)55k = Cramped and claustrophobic
$375k = spacious and a great buy.
Why exactly is this double the 1999 price?
That second bedroom is a joke, does the resident fall through the doorway and into bed?
$(6)75k = Cramped and claustrophobic
$375k = spacious and a great buy.
Why exactly is this double the 1999 price?
That second bedroom is a joke, does the resident fall through the doorway and into bed?
(GD multi-tasking)
“Why exactly is this double the 1999 price?”
Because they completely reno’d the place since 1999?
Also, ’99 price is $454k in ’09 dollars.* So it’s $220k for the reno. Still probably a little rich, given the space, but probably a good buy at ~$600k.
*the ’91 price in ’99 $$ was $314k; apply the same (gross, not annual) real appreciation to the $454, you get $506, making the net reno cost $170k at ask.
so the majority of the major renovations occurred between the 99 and 2004 sales. Not sure if anything was done since 2004 to warrent the significant increase.
I live close to here and was interested in this place. Called the realtor a few months ago. He told me he was driving his car headed out on vacation and that I needed to call him back in a few days. If place had been on the market as long as this place and my realtor said that to a potential buyer, I would surely be finding a new realtor.
I’m still interested in theory. The location is perfect, it has great curb appeal, the rehab looks nice, and the price is substantially cheaper than any other single family type property in the neighborhood (which often don’t have parking). Two problems for me: (1) The outdoor space. There’s essentially none. The unit next door has a rooftop deck, but in a place this narrow I don’t know how you would add access to the roof. (2) 1826 N. Lincoln. It’s listed at $899k, it’s bigger, has a small back yard and a one car garage. It needs more work, but it suggest to me that this place is over-priced.
“anything was done since 2004 to warrent the significant increase”
$20k is a “significant increase”? It’s barely 3%.
I bet they’d take $650k if you could close quickly.
It’s been on the market for a while. I bet they’d take $550-600k if you could close quickly.
“It’s been on the market for a while. I bet they’d take $550-600k if you could close quickly.”
Bet they don’t want to bring cash to closing. Face amount of mtgs appears to be $580k, from ’05 refi + 2d.
$620k would probably cover payoff + closing expenses, so that might fly.
Where are you getting the $580K?
$620K for this then… I think that’s a good deal, right?
“Where are you getting the $580K?”
From ccrd. There’s a $522k mtg* and a $58k mtg.
*actually, there are 3, and only one of them has been released. I think I safely assume that each refi’d the prior.
I forgot the other thing that bothered me about this place: no bathtub. Two standing showers, but no tub. This pretty much takes it out of contention for my wife.
Doug the realtor must be about 7’2″… the perspective of the pictures means one thing. Small Small rooms
“Small Small rooms”
Aerial-based measurement works out to ~615 SF/floor. So 1850 gross SF.
subtract what, 400 sqft for the stairs?
“subtract what, 400 sqft for the stairs?”
The stairs to the basement are 12 stairs, about 4 feet wide = ~50 SF. The stairs up are probably slightly bigger. So minus ~125 SF on the top two floor, and amybe 25 more on the lower level–pic clearly shows it’s semi-usable storage behind.
I’d say less *max* 200 SF, assuming that the stairs down are underneath the stairs up.
Decorating wise, I much prefer the property on N. Lincoln…man I must be getting stale.
Nice interiors
It’s a rowhouse, of course it’s small! In exchange for that, you get charm and aesthetics, and a sense of living somewhere with a past. Those things are far more valuable than the “boring shitbox” type of condos that are so prevalent. I think 675k is still too high, but it’s a unique space.
+1
thanks joe. most of the people on this blog need to move to south barrington so they can have a 32×48 guest room.
Love the neighborhood, love the space. One word: want.
Sold for 640k