Vintage Greystone Converted Into a Single Family Home: 1142 W. George in Lakeview
This 5-bedroom vintage Greystone single family home at 1142 W. George in Lakeview recently came on the market.
Built in 1910 on a 25×124 lot, the listing says it was “converted” to a wide open single family so I’m assuming it was a 2 flat with a basement previously.
The house has the layout buyers prefer with 4 out of 5 bedrooms on the second floor.
There are two bathrooms on the second floor, including in the master suite.
The house has a white gourmet kitchen with Subzero, Thermador and Bosch appliances.
There’s a family room off the kitchen which looks like an addition.
The basement has a recreation room and a full bathroom, along with the fifth bedroom.
It has central air and a 2-car garage.
The backyard has a flagstone patio and a deck on top of the garage.
This house was briefly on the market last year at the same price it has come back on this spring.
The listing says the house has been staged.
How does a vintage rehab stack up against all the new completely new single family homes in the neighborhood?
Cindy Wilson at BerkshireHathaway KoenigRubloff has the listing. See the pictures here.
1142 W. George: 5 bedrooms, 3.5 baths, 4300 square feet, 2 car garage
- Sold in June 1988 for $255,000
- Sold in July 1999 for $487,000
- Sold in March 2004 for $1,045,000
- Originally listed in September 2018 for $1,199,900
- Re-listed in March 2019 for $1,199,900
- Taxes of $13,866
- Central Air
- Bedroom #1: 15×13 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 11×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 12×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 11×10 (second floor)
- Bedroom #5: 11×9 (lower level)
- Family room: 20×18 (first floor)
- Recreation room: 25×15 (lower level)
- Laundry room: 6×6 (second floor)
1) does anyone else feel that gates take something away from a property/street?
2) you have to click on street view from the pics and click twice towards the alley
“does anyone else feel that gates take something away from a property/street?”
Yes, for sure. Almost always.
I prefer a gate, I like the look and I like the additional advance audible warning when it’s opening and some undesirable is making their way to my front door.
This property is in a good location except being on the alley sucks in Chicago due to all of the morons beeping every time they come across an alley intersection. The property is regrettably character-free considering its vintage though. Just white-washed into boredom. I think it’s relatively fairly priced though, and should respond well to a few cosmetic improvements.
Icarus, I don’t like the gates either but being on an alley where drunken idiots in this neighborhood tend to stumble, I don’t blame this owner for installing one.
I wish the city would rubber stamp the addition of units (legalizing basement/attic/ADUs) to existing multifamily houses as easily as it approves the deconversion of the units or outright demolishment of those older 2/3-flats.
A little hard to be sure, but the first floor layout seems really odd, and do not like.
The city has no approval authority over deconconervion of 2 and 3 flats. Other than approving the drawings.
Vapid. I absolutely hate the front door and the lack of a vestibule at this price point. Door looks like a Home Depot “stained glass” front door to me. Maybe it is the picture.
The carpet just looks gross in the pictures. I bet it is really bad in person.
Given the fact it is a SFH and the amount of space and location, it is probably priced about right but they should offer a credit for flooring replacement in the basement and bedrooms. Is it me or do those taxes seem a bit low for a million dollar home?
“Door looks like a Home Depot “stained glass” front door to me. Maybe it is the picture.”
Dunno about stained, but it is not at all right for the house. Fine door for a $275k home in some nondescript suburb.
“do those taxes seem a bit low for a million dollar home?”
1. is assessed as a 3 flat.
2. re-assessment taking it from 67,791 to 99,116–up 46%. 2d installment bill will be pretty close to that $13k number, after a first installment of $7600.
This is a beautiful home in many ways. Nice vintage features, excellent exterior, deck, fireplaces, etc. Kitchen looks good, too.
I wish I could get past the fact that it’s on an alley. I wonder if that means a lot of noise every day (and night). Definitely takes some of the value off.
I lived on an alley for years. I rent the place out now. It was no big deal and I preferred that to being squished in between houses. I also enjoyed only dealing with one stupid neighbor instead of two. Drunks don’t limit themselves to alleys so that is just a non issue. The biggest issue to me with the house itself is the kitchen. There is not enough room for the 4-5 people household this house is intended for. I have the same size kitchen with a smaller family, and it’s difficult.
IMHO, this house needs a major reno. They took a 2 flat and did some work to make it into a SFH but it truly looks “vapid”. The price is right for someone who wants to buy and do an appropriate gut rehab.
I guess I’m outnumbered. Everyone seems to hate this place, but I liked the interior from a brief look at the photos. Everyone else thinks its vapid. Maybe I need to look more closely. I love the exterior, so maybe that colored my view.
First time I’ve heard someone suggest high end homes need vestibules. That’s not a reaction I have, or a feature I consistently see on nicer places. Thoughts?
The vestibule thing is a common CC requirement, and one I happen to prefer on a more expensive/fancier house. (Whether a converted 2/3 flat is in that category is a separate question, I think often not.) My own house doesn’t have one, but then it’s basically an upgraded workers cottage, and as a result I’ve tried to create the feel of one since I don’t like the idea of opening right into the living room.
Like Dan#2, I love greystones, but I looked at a couple of cheaper/much cheaper ones with insides as nice (in one case) or nicer (in another) in Lincoln Square, and in general this type of building is not that uncommon if you are willing to do the conversion. Here the first floor does feel awkward and I personally would not care for being on the alley. I like the little area this is in and think the $1.2 m is fair, but not if one thinks a huge amount of rehab is needed.