Tennis Anyone? 4819 S. Greenwood in Kenwood

I don’t know if this 1913 Georgian home is within President-Elect Obama’s security “cone” in Kenwood (which has its own pros and cons, of course)- but either way, it looks like you’d have some privacy.

4819-s-greenwood.jpg

Not only do you get 8 fireplaces but there are apparently tennis courts.  I can’t tell from the listing if these are your own private courts or some kind of neighborhood courts.

Here’s the listing:

Spacious, well-maintained rooms, numerous baths, tall ceilings, french doors, fireplaces with ornately carved mantels and stone surrounds are just some of the embellishments to be found in this handsome Georgian residence.

The interior of this residence is magnificent and architecturally significant. The exterior offers a four-car garage, tennis courts, and grounds which feel like your very own private space.

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Shirley Amico at Koenig & Strey has the listing. See more pictures and a virtual tour here.

4819 S. Greenwood: 7 bedrooms, 5 baths, 2 half baths, 4-car garage, no square footage listed

  • Sold in September 2000 for $925,000
  • Originally listed for $3.2 million in October 2005 through November 2007
  • Reduced
  • Listed at $2.95 million in November 2007
  • Reduced several times
  • Listed at $2.68 million by September 2008
  • Reduced
  • Currently listed for $2.575 million
  • Taxes of $18,963
  • 8 fireplaces
  • Tennis courts?
  • Library
  • Den
  • Central Air

32 Responses to “Tennis Anyone? 4819 S. Greenwood in Kenwood”

  1. David (the first one) on November 21st, 2008 at 3:00 pm

    Grew up about half a mile from here, walked the dog past it a million times. The tennis courts are indeed private. There are a few Kenwood properties that go past “mansion” territory into being full blown urban estates, and this is one (some others have nearly full size indoor pools, and tennis courts are pretty common).

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  2. AND you are about a fifteen minute drive from downtown.

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  3. The tennis court is visible on google maps–it’s right next to the garage, behind the main house.

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  4. Sabrina,

    I would really appreciate it if you kept my house off the site, it makes me feel awkward. I know you like coming over to play tennis and all but come on….. Don’t I deserve a little privacy??

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  5. A bit of kitchen updating and not my style, but the house is beautiful.

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  6. And the Obamas are your neighbors…until January 20. Which means you can’t get to your street from Hyde Park Blvd. But you can stop by for bridge.

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  7. Wow, gorgeous house. Of course, properties like this take a long time to sell even in a good market so it should be interesting to see what happens here.

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  8. Pete, notice it has been on the market since October 2005! What would you guys say it is worth? My completely wild-assed speculation is 1.3 million.

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  9. Gee, noone laughed at my joke, I feel so left out, maybe HD and I should drink! Us lawyers ya know…..

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  10. OT, but Downey Savings just gurgled its last. Wow. I mean, everyone knew it was on the horizon, but still it’s somethong to see another (relatively) big ‘un go.

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  11. Kenworthey: The banks keep going under every Friday night but the rest of America doesn’t pay any attention because it’s the end of the week.

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  12. Three banks went down today…..just another Friday.

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  13. Thanks for all the comments that this house does indeed have a private tennis court. Couldn’t tell for sure from the listing.

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  14. From records, it looks like it might be Dirk Lohan’s ex-wife’s house. Dirk Lohan is Mies van der Rohe’s grandson. So the house is by some very remote measure indirectly architecturally significant, if you’re in to that kind of thing.

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  15. I’m not sure it is “private” in the sense of owned only by the one house. It is listed as a “neighborhood” asset, so maybe the several houses surrounding it jointly own it?

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  16. Jason (TFO), how do you know no one laughed? Have you been bugging my office again? By the way, how is the rehab going? (Not your drinking problem, but the new Uptown digs.)

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  17. Kenworthey- that was my original question. It doesn’t look like the courts belong to the actual house but are used by the neighborhood (and it just happens to be next door.)

    But either way- you wouldn’t have to walk far to play a game.

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  18. I feel like they are asking too much, I completely agree that Kenwood really is the lake forest of the South Side, but the surrounding area absolutely destroys the value in that neighborhood.

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  19. Look at the purchase price in 2000…How much could they have spent rehabbing? A few hundred k?

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  20. Streeterville Realtor on November 22nd, 2008 at 6:08 pm

    Jason,

    I think you are hilarious

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  21. Which Dirk Lohan ex-wife are you talking about? I thought Diane Legge Lohan lived in Riverside with her 2nd husband and kids. Long story, but ask any former SOM employee…

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  22. Only FDIC Fridays make news when its a sizable bank. But when its too sizable don’t wait for the news headline.

    Indymac was a behemoth and worth well more than all the other failed banks this year and the past few combined.

    Most FDIC Fridays are small banks noones heard of and ones noone could give a crap less about. Although if Citi pops up this would obviously be an outlier.

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  23. The calculated risk blog keeps an eye on Friday bank failures, and has put up a post on Fridays when they happen. The 3 this past Friday only brought the yearly total up to 22.

    A post from this weekend showing comparative number of failures versus size of failures is here:

    http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/11/graphs-fdic-bank-failures.html

    As you can see, WaMu brought this year’s impact up considerably over the impact of past bank failures. Significantly moreso than IndyMac, though WaMu has not technically led to losses to the FDIC. Banks these days are much bigger than in previous years.

    The more interesting thing I’ve picked up from comments there is that the percentage loss on assets in the last months has been significantly higher than in previous years. Something on the order of 40-50% to earlier 10-15%. The conclusion being drawn is that the FDIC and OTS are doing everything can not to seize insolvent institutions.

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  24. $900k in 2000 to $1.5mm today? Rachel’s probably right, a couple hundred in improvements, …but if the stock market has gained absolutely zero since 2000, why is 170% appreciation on real estate rational?

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  25. Yeah makes sense. Who wants to pay money to inherit a liability?!
    I hope this Citi situation is taken properly however. It has the potential for big impact/volatility in the markets.

    “Something on the order of 40-50% to earlier 10-15%. The conclusion being drawn is that the FDIC and OTS are doing everything can not to seize insolvent institutions.”

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  26. If you get a chance, visit that site and see the overlaid comparison of stock indexes from ’29, 74, ’00 and today. Last week we surpassed on a percentage basis the drop at a comparable time from any of the earlier crashes. In terms of impact, the implication is out there that we may now be facing a bigger disaster than in the Depression. It just hasn’t played itself out yet fully. Its not clear that, other than the stock market drop in ’29, that unemployment and other indicators were better or worse at a comparable stage than today.

    After Citi, there are quite a few more out there waiting. Personally I wish that the g would provide funding for new banks with clean balance sheets and let the old ones die. I also wish Shiela Bair would do her job instead of threatening bloggers and trying to fix problems not within her purview while ignoring those within her purview.

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  27. How nice to see my house featured on cribchatter. While I will miss all those tea parties with the Obamas and the quick trips out to the tennis court, the yard upkeep was just all getting to be a bit too much. We will also miss the dance parties in the bedroom, but we’ve decided to buy the top three floors of the spire instead. Oh wait, that project is toast! Cancel the listing – quick.

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  28. JB- trying to steal my joke!

    Keworthey: The rehab is going good, I am almost done. I told Sabrina that I will send some pictures.

    I am alos going to list it for $499,000 when its done, because reasl estate always goes up and darn it, I AM ENTITLED! 😉

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  29. “I am alos going to list it for $499,000 when its done”

    Hey, if someone will pay that, why not, right?

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  30. Sure what the heck! Make it $750,000!

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  31. Amazing how outsiders have a different view of the neighborhood..
    $1.3 mil for that amount of land? You must want to bid on it. It’s worth more than $1.3. A lot more.

    Realtors who aren’t from the Hyde Park/Kenwood area tend to GROSSLY under value properties here.. Sellers in the HP/K neighborhood tend to slightly over value properties.

    Contrast this perfectly decent property sold for $900+K (48th & Greenwood) in 2000, with a crappy, [more] energy inefficient, carcinogen vinyl clad shacks on 48th & Cornell with 1/2 the space and about 1/6th the land (and no tennis court) that ALSO SOLD for about $800K in 1999.

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  32. S.M., could you explain why that same land, with presumably that house, possibly pre-renovation, was worth only 900k in 2000, if the land alone is now worth well over 1.3?? Prices have been appreciating incredibly in HP/Kenwood since 2000 – with no real change in the neighborhood itself. There were improvements in North Kenwood, Oakland, Woodlawn over that time – areas that are now deteriorating radically with foreclosures all over the place. That should drag HP/Kenwood back down from the astronomical appreciation rates over the last few years.
    There are tons of vinyl clad shacks on that corner of Cornell – but even the most expensive list for under 800k – NOW (and yeah, I would think they are overpriced – that’s why they are sitting on the market).
    I agree this looks like a nice property on a nice piece of land. I just don’t understand how it can go from 900k to 2.6 mill in 8 years, with the worst real estate downturn in decades in progress. I do think it (land plus house) is worth more than 1.3 – but IMO nowhere near 2.6… And if they don’t become more realistic soon, who knows.

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