Renovated 2-Bedroom Vintage Penthouse with Parking: 1920 N. Seminary in Lincoln Park

This 2-bedroom triplex penthouse in the Seminary Flatiron Building at 1920 N. Seminary in Lincoln Park came on the market in March 2023.

Built in 1883, the Seminary Flatiron Building was renovated in 1985 and is on the National Register of Historic Places. It has 8 units. Is there any parking? I thought we’ve chattered about other units that had a parking space before.

The listing says this unit was “beautifully renovated” and is an “entertainer’s dream.”

It has hardwood floors on both floors and a spiral staircase leads to the second floor.

If you look at the prior listing pictures, you can see that there were some walls that were taken down in the renovation on the first floor.

The listing says the kitchen was “completely renovated” in 2020 with Shaker-style navy cabinetry with gold hardware, quartz counter tops and stainless steel appliances including a French door refrigerator with 2 freezers and a range hood. It also has a “massive” quartz island with built-in wine fridge and seating for 2.

The kitchen is open to the living/dining room.

There’s also a powder room with sleek white subway tiled wall, hexagon tile flooring and a RH wood vanity.

The two bedrooms are on the second floor.

The primary bedroom has custom mouldings and 13 foot ceilings along with window treatments.

The second bedroom has floor-to-ceiling built-in bookcases, a Murphy bed, an attached ladder to access the loft/flex space.

There is one full bath and it has a glass shower/soaking tub combo.

The third level is a private east facing roof deck with city views. The listing says it is a newer composite deck.

The unit has the features buyers look for including central air, a “brand new” front loading LG ThinQ washer/dryer and a detached garage parking space is included (wonder where it is located?)

This building is near the Armitage Brown line stop. The listing says: “UNBEATABLE location within walking distance to all the best restaurants and shopping along Armitage, Halsted, and Clybourn including Trader Joe’s, Aldi, Armitage Alehouse, Foxtrot, La Colombe Coffee, Summer House Santa Monica, and more!”

Listed at $499,000, will this property be under contract by Monday morning?

Elena Theodoros and Thomas Scherpenberg at @properties Christie’s have the listing. See the pictures here. Sorry, no floor plan.

Or see it in person this Saturday, March 25, at the Open House from 12:00 to 1:30 PM.

Unit #C: 2 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, no square footage listed, triplex penthouse

  • Sold in April 1994 for $169,500
  • Sold in May 2006 for $369,000
  • Sold in August 2019 for $375,000
  • Listed in March 2023 for $499,000
  • Assessments of $253 a month (includes exterior maintenance, lawn care, scavenger)
  • Taxes of $3719 
  • Central Air
  • Washer/dryer in the unit
  • Detached garage parking included (not sure where it’s located)
  • Bedroom #1: 13×12 (second floor)
  • Bedroom #2: 13×9 (second floor)
  • Living room: 17×14 (main floor)
  • Kitchen: 11×9 (main floor)
  • Loft: 8×8 (second floor)
  • Deck: 18×5 (third floor)

21 Responses to “Renovated 2-Bedroom Vintage Penthouse with Parking: 1920 N. Seminary in Lincoln Park”

  1. “Unbeatable location”

    I’d say living 5 to 10 blocks east would certainly beat it.

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  2. “The listing says this unit was “beautifully renovated” and is an “entertainer’s dream.”

    Reno is “nice”, I guess if you only have two friends, then yes its an entertainers dream

    Nyet is right there are better area in LP, but its still a good area. Guessing you have to go out to a commor corridor to access the deck

    Wheres the TJ premium? Does it get offset by lack of Shake Shack?

    At the end of the day its a small 1+Den. That being said this will sell. Price is reasonable (May sell over ask) with garage parking.

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  3. “Unbeatable location”

    As I may have mentioned before when discussing listings in this location, one plus is there’s some good Indian places out that way, especially The Oven, which we’ve hit a few times when passing through Lincoln. You can walk to it if you’re staying at the Cornhusker.

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  4. Yea its not a bad location by any means. The realtor speak of “unbeatable” is a little silly as it would obviously be great to live a bit closer to the park/lake.

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  5. The platform bed in the loft is so hard to remove, that it has remained there since the Aug-2014 (NOT 2019 as in post) sale.

    Two listing with 0 pix of the 3rd floor “den” (’14 listing) or “deck access” (current listing)? Must be dire.

    Why is the TV mount so high?

    PP+CPI = $474k. This is more than $25k nicer than it was at purchase.

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  6. The fact that anyone would pay half a mill to have spiral staircase jetting through the middle of the kitchen is mind boggling. Besides being weird, is it unsanitary? Where is the dirt from the bottom of your shoes going? Probably onto the steps and then onto the countertops.

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  7. How does one take their guests out to the balcony? Up the spiral staircase, through the den, up the ladder and through the crawl space? With a drink in hand?

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  8. “Where is the dirt from the bottom of your shoes going? Probably onto the steps and then onto the countertops.”

    Umm, don’t wear shoes in the house? I have house slippers that never leave my place if I don’t want to walk around in socks or barefoot.

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  9. “Up the spiral staircase, through the den, up the ladder and through the crawl space?”

    I think the sprial staircase continues up to the third floor.

    Compare to Unit A (which has been on CC a number of times):

    https://www.redfin.com/IL/Chicago/1920-N-Seminary-Ave-60614/unit-A/home/13351592

    real stairs instead of spiral, but they carry up to the roof level.

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  10. I came here to say that wearing outside shoes inside your home is pretty gross but also that if you have pets, what KK said applies. I have kitties, my stairs are not near any food prep but they are open with a few weird hard to clean bits and I am shocked at what I can clean out of those nooks….and no one in my household is wearing outside shoes inside. The space dust and fur really adds up.

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  11. I know I’m a stickler but calling this a “penthouse” is a huge stretch of the term.

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  12. Re: shoes in the house. With rare exception we take ours off when we enter the home. We expect (the seemingly never ending parade of) kid visitors to do the same. If we go to someone else’s home, I’m happy to remove shoes when entering. But if we’re having people over, I don’t expect people to remove their shoes, and even discourage it (unless there’s a lot of snow on the ground, and keeping them on would obviously lead to lots of water all over the floors, and who wants to step in that). Some adults get sort of dressed up, and buy they’re supposed to leave their shoes at the front door? Having a party that’s intended to be both indoors and out on a patio – do they carry them from the front door, then leave them at the back door to put on and off every time they go in and out?

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  13. Yes wearing outside shoes indoors is gross, especially in the city. Moot point — Indoor shoes or slippers also pick up dust. If you’re not willing to lick your floors, it probably has dust that you wouldn’t want on your counters.

    Also, I’m not one to call out an oblivious guest for keeping shoes on. And can you really expect your guests to go on the terrace in their socks?

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  14. “I think the sprial staircase continues up to the third floor.”

    I was wondering the same thing. How do you get up there? The prior listing also said there was a “den” on the third floor. But this one doesn’t mention it.

    Someone needs to go to the weekend open house and report back. Lol.

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  15. “The fact that anyone would pay half a mill to have spiral staircase jetting through the middle of the kitchen is mind boggling.”

    I actually don’t mind this. I like it so much more than the stairs being behind a weird wall and the much smaller kitchen that was there before.

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  16. “This is more than $25k nicer than it was at purchase.”

    Isn’t it? It has an entirely new kitchen that rocks. Love the blue cabinets and the island.

    And it’s nice they refreshed the half bath.

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  17. “Yea its not a bad location by any means. The realtor speak of “unbeatable” is a little silly as it would obviously be great to live a bit closer to the park/lake.”

    Depends on what you like to do, I would guess. If you cook a lot, then being by all the grocery stores is a big plus. Something to be said for being able to walk to the Trader Joe’s instead of dealing with the insane parking lots at them all. It is also near, gasp, some movie theaters and a lot of restaurants.

    Not everyone is into the Lake or Lincoln Park, obviously, or no one would live in Bucktown.

    For the price, you are getting a 2/1.5 with parking, w/d and central air with a Lincoln Park address near transportation, shops and restaurants. You’d likely pay more if you went a lot further east.

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  18. Also, if you go to the Open House, be sure to report back on where the garage parking space is located.

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  19. No one is really complaining about the price on this unit which makes me think they’ve priced it pretty competitively for this market and will likely get something close to it.

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  20. “Unbeatable location”

    Will be pedals away from the 606 extension, is that still happening?

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  21. Having a clean bike route to the lake from Wicker Park/Bucktown would be great news for those neighborhoods, but also an underrated upgrade for LP to be able to go West without having to navigate the hellacious Clybourn/Cortland/Ashland/Elston clusterF

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