Vintage Queen Anne on the Outside, Modern on the Inside: 2134 W. Lunt in West Ridge
This 4-bedroom Queen Anne at 2134 W. Lunt in the West Ridge neighborhood of Rogers Park recently came on the market.
Built in 1891, before the area was even part of Chicago, the house is on a double lot measuring 50×171.
If you’re not familiar with West Ridge’s history, its one of the older parts of Chicago as there were Indian villages in the area as early as the 1700s.
From the Encyclopedia of Chicago:
During most of the nineteenth century West Ridge remained relatively rural. St. Henry’s Roman Catholic Church served as both the religious and social center of the community. West Ridge was home to two cemeteries, Rosehill and St. Henry’s, and Angel Guardian Orphanage. Truck farms, greenhouses, and the open prairie characterized much of the area. Disagreements with Rogers Park about taxes for local improvements led to the incorporation of West Ridge as a village in 1890. Despite local controversy over annexation to Chicago in 1893, proponents prevailed and West Ridge became part of Chicago. Unlike in Rogers Park, annexation did not bring immediate growth. The number of residents remained under 500 until after 1900. No prominent business districts existed, as community members relied on either Rogers Park or Evanston for their goods and services.
It has a brick patio as well as a brick walkway to the 2 car garage along with a formal garden and landscaping.
The listing says the house has been rehabbed.
The kitchen has modern German-made Poggenpohl cabinets, with upscale appliances including Miele and Subzero.
It still maintains some of its vintage character, including crown molding and hardwood floors.
The house has an unfinished basement and central air.
We’ve chattered about how move-in ready properties sell fast in this market.
Will this house be scooped up soon?
Laurie Jacobson at Century 21 S.G.R. has the listing. See the pictures here.
2134 W. Lunt: 4 bedrooms, 1.5 baths, 1918 square feet
- Looks like it has only sold once since 1988
- Sold in January 1998 for $326,000 (per Redfin)
- Currently listed for $589,000
- Taxes of $5893
- Central Air
- 2-car garage
- Bedroom #1: 13×12 (second floor)
- Bedroom #2: 12×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #3: 11×11 (second floor)
- Bedroom #4: 13×10 (second floor)
- Family room: 17×12 (main level)
One word: YES. I love this house.
They sure didn’t leave much character on the inside. Great lot though, and reasonable taxes. How’s safety and crime around there?
How’s safety? Granted, Chicago is a hot mess, but Rogers Park has is moments of sheer depravity.
In most neighborhoods, the gang executions take place in off hours. In West Rogers Park, even rush hour on a major street isn’t exactly “safe”:
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160324/west-ridge/killer-shot-teen-head-after-he-collapsed-middle-of-ridge-boulevard
Those kitchen cabinets do not belong in that house. I was led to believe that most Western Europeans take their kitchen cabinets with them when they move. They should too.
They really blew their wad on the kitchen and landscaping huh… didn’t leave much to renovate elsewhere
Adding a full second bath would have been a better investment… Generally when people are buying houses like this they will have children and will want at minimum a full second bathroom and maybe a powder room. Houses this size with 1.5 bath really limits the buyer pool imho.
It’s shocking to see that there’s only 1 full bathroom in this house when the owner obviously spent a ton of money renovating it.
Their choice seemed to be either a 4 bedroom 1.5 bath home, or a 3 bedroom 2 full bath home. They chose the 4/1.5 over the 3/2.
I’m sure it was a hard choice.
Another issue is there’s no powder room on the first floor, from what I can tell.
“They sure didn’t leave much character on the inside. ”
this is totally devoid of any character. #RenovationFail
Speaking of vintage queens, where is Jan Terri……. LOLZ
“How’s safety? Granted, Chicago is a hot mess, but Rogers Park has is moments of sheer depravity.”
If the only incident you can find anywhere close to this house is 6 months ago, then I’d say it’s pretty darn safe. Because you can find much worse in Lincoln Park, Lakeview, and hell, Millennium Park and the Loop, where someone was just shot randomly in front of the Art Institute at 7 pm on Saturday.
I wish people would get out of their GreenZone neighborhood, quit relying on Google to tell them about “gang executions” and get out there and see their city. There really IS more to it than 6 to 8 rich neighborhoods.
No one else has been posting articles about shootings from 6 months ago about anywhere else we talk about.
“They sure didn’t leave much character on the inside. ”
this is totally devoid of any character. #RenovationFail
__________________________________________
They might be able to afford the mortgage payment, but bottom line they can’t afford the house. Outside of the kitchen that doesn’t belong, it looks like a college kids flop pad. I’ve seen this numerous times before. As a former realtor I actually talked someone out of buying a beautiful Victorian in a historic district. I reminded them of the, probably, $300,000 in proper furnishings and decor in that home that made it show as it did, and those items will NOT be there when they’re handed the keys.
And technically, with the size of that home and only one full bath it’s considered “functionally obsolete”. I couldn’t sell a 4 bedroom home for what I paid for it a decade earlier with only 1.5 baths in a very desirable area. This was post-bubble though and the market was flooded.
Seems the price reflects this, but not the neighborhood.
It’s amazing how many people put tons of money into renovating an old house, find a gullible Realtor to list it for $500k plus, then have the nerve to have only one communal bath upstairs (with 2 or 3 bedrooms) and maybe a half or full bath on the main floor or basement. Sorry…but if hubby and I can afford that kind of money we want one or maybe even two “master baths.” (You think I’m kidding? Check out some of the “vintage” condos in the Gold Coast. They have his-and-her baths in the master suite!)
“someone was just shot randomly in front of the Art Institute at 7 pm on Saturday”
No, it wasn’t “random”. The initial encounter appears to have been random, but the victim and the shooter were having a heated argument about religion just prior to the shooting.
“Check out some of the “vintage” condos in the Gold Coast. They have his-and-her baths in the master suite!”
Find me one of those that is a 3+ bed, and is under $600k, and I’ll buy it.
“No, it wasn’t “random”. The initial encounter appears to have been random, but the victim and the shooter were having a heated argument about religion just prior to the shooting.”
Um…no, they were not.
The victim had just left a wine tasting with his girlfriend and mother. They encountered someone passing out religious fliers. The victim got into a fight with THOSE people. The alleged shooter rode up, injected himself into it, and shot the guy 3 times.
Totally and completely random. Could have happened to anyone.
Please. Don’t think you’re “safe” in front of the Art Institute.
From DNAInfo:
The murder followed a heated argument on the street about religion, but the alleged shooter had nothing to do with that argument, said Chicago Police Cmdr. Brendan Deenihan.
Instead, Paul Pagan intervened in the heated argument, pulled out a gun and shot Peter Fabbri, 54, of west suburban Berwyn, Deenihan said.
Police said Fabbri and his group had left a wine tasting event and encountered a group preaching about religion on the street. Fabbri’s group, described by Deenihan as Christians, found the message being delivered to be hateful and got into an argument with the other group, which was passing out pamphlets.
The argument escalated, and that’s when Pagan rode up on a bike. He started arguing with Fabbri, an argument that turned physical, police said. He then pulled out a handgun and shot Fabbri, Deenihan said.
https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20160926/downtown/peter-fabbri-shooting-millennium-park-wine-tasting-art-institute
Yep. It was a random shooting alright:
ran·dom
/?rand?m/
adjective
adjective: random
1. made, done, happening, or chosen without method or conscious decision.
“a random sample of 100 households”
synonyms: unsystematic, unmethodical, arbitrary, unplanned, undirected, casual, indiscriminate, nonspecific, haphazard, stray, erratic; More
chance, accidental
“random spot checks”
antonyms: systematic
•Statistics
governed by or involving equal chances for each item.
•(of masonry) with stones of irregular size and shape.
2. informal
odd, unusual, or unexpected.
“I find it impossible to not laugh at such a random guy”
“Um…no, they were not [having an argument]”.
From the article you quoted, and, indeed, part of what you quoted:
“He started arguing with Fabbri, an argument that turned physical, police said”
You seriously cited something that says they were having an argument to support the contention that they were NOT having an argument?
“You seriously cited something that says they were having an argument to support the contention that they were NOT having an argument?”
Yes.
He was NOT having the argument with the guy that shot him. Can YOU read???? Or didn’t they teach that in law school?
He was having it with the guys with the fliers. And then RANDOMLY (yes- completely randomly) this guy walks up, injects himself into it, says a few words and shoots him three times.
WTF!
Yes- you can be shot RANDOMLY in front of the Art Institute.
This makes the Millennium Park neighborhood much more dangerous than being in historic West Ridge where the closest murder was a gang murder 3/4s of a mile away 6 months ago.
I even quoted it for you Melania:
“when Pagan rode up on a bike. He started arguing with Fabbri, an argument that turned physical, police said.”
Who the fuck else is the “he” there if not Pagan?
Or is your contention that CPD is lying about that?
Who’s stupid enough to get into a physical argument with a dude with a tattoo around his scalp??
“Who’s stupid enough to get into a physical argument with a dude with a tattoo around his scalp??”
He did not. That’s what you don’t understand. He was arguing with some crazy religious people trying to hand him a flyer.
But you clearly don’t get out much. And certainly don’t walk around downtown or in front of the Art Institute.
That guy was shot randomly. Was just on Michigan Avenue for a wine tasting. How tragic. And much scarier than what is happening in West Ridge.
Long time reader, first time post (in a few years, that is).
Moved up to this area from Logan a couple years ago. Didn’t notice any other neighborhood residents chime in here so figured I would offer some local perspective.
Area is quiet and seems very safe to me. Used to routinely hear pops at night in Logan and that’s far less common here. West Ridge is a large neighborhood though, so some parts are nicer than others (as is common in many other neighborhoods, such as Logan). From my research/observations, the area west of Ravenswood (the UPN Metra tracks) between Pratt/Touhy is pretty nice and offers a very easy commute to downtown via the RoPa Metra stop at Lunt/Ravenswood. I’m actually just west of Western and south of Indian Boundary Park, which IMO is an even better area albeit a bit longer of a walk to the Metra station. I still manage to walk to the station in <15 minutes and am downtown in <35 minutes. My door-to-door commute to my office near Union Station is 40 minutes–the same as it was when I lived near Palmer Square in Logan.
I got a pretty large, renovated 1920s two-story Tudor SFH up here at about $200/sf, which is about half the cost of SFHs in Logan last I checked. The area between Western/California and Lunt/Pratt is a well-kept 1920s historic district of primarily SFHs that has a really awesome low-key vibe–as far as I'm concerned, one of the best kept secrets in the city. Plan is to homeschool so wasn't really concerned with the neighborhood schools. Our house, too, only has 1 full bathroom–of course, would be nice to have a master bathroom but wouldn't have got it for the price we paid. Not sure why there are so many haters on this place–I mean it's a renovated Victorian on a large lot under $600k on the North Side. Renovation not to my personal taste but I'm sure it appeals to those with a more modern aesthetic. Where else in the area can you get something like this for anything close to this price?
Chris M! (maybe bob will come back too, if he doesn’t have too much trouble w the arithmetic spam checks–perhaps he has trouble w it timing out, he’s used to untimed testing)
” Not sure why there are so many haters on this place”
I’ve always wondered that too. I have some theories, everything from road rage to not getting any, but nothing that would apply uniformly across the board.
@Icarus: was referring to the haters on this house (specifically, the fact that it only has 1 full bathroom…list price seems to reflect that IMO).
But, anyway, how you doin? Been a while…:)
@Chris M: welcome back and my comment still stands. 🙂
doing alright, hanging in there. hope all is well with you. You still in realty?
@Icarus: Thanks for the welcome and all is well! Yep, I still moonlight as an independent managing broker on the side of my full-time gig downtown.
@DZ: Are you still in Logan? Sorry–last few years I’ve been inconsistent with reading CC so maybe your current location was mentioned previously. Last I checked you were still there…
“Are you still in Logan?”
got squeezed out. considered a couple places in your new neighborhood. v nice, just didn’t work out logistically quite as well for our particular circumstances.
“I got a pretty large, renovated 1920s two-story Tudor SFH up here at about $200/sf, which is about half the cost of SFHs in Logan last I checked. The area between Western/California and Lunt/Pratt is a well-kept 1920s historic district of primarily SFHs that has a really awesome low-key vibe–as far as I’m concerned, one of the best kept secrets in the city.”
Thanks for chiming in Chris M.
The architecture in this neighborhood is amazing. There’s actually a lot of Spanish revival with a Moorish bent. It’s really interesting to see.
West of Western has a great vibe. Lots of people riding around on their bikes. Indian Boundary Park is one of THE top parks in the city. Simply amazing. And you can easily drive up there, park right next to it, and enjoy (if you don’t live in the neighborhood.) I really recommend it.