Will the Hot Luxury Market Finally Help Sell the Claude Seymour House? 817 W. Hutchinson in Buena Park
This 6-bedroom historic mansion at 817 W. Hutchinson in the Buena Park neighborhood of Uptown just came on the market.
If it looks familiar, that’s because we’ve chattered about it several times since 2012.
See our October 2012 chatter here.
The Claude Seymour House is one of the many historic mansions that line Hutchinson on this landmarked block.
The Elite Street column in the Chicago Tribune highlighted it in 2013:
Designed by Prairie-style architect George Washington Maher and completed in 1913 for jewelry wholesaler Seymour, the more than 12,000-square-foot mansion has six bedrooms, four full baths, two half baths, leaded stained-glass windows, a grand mahogany staircase, three fireplaces, mahogany millwork throughout, an eat-in kitchen and a coach house atop a two-car garage.
The property has 136 feet of frontage and a wraparound yard.
If you recall, the house is on 5 city lots measuring 136×140.
It has a 2-car garage plus space for 2 cars on the driveway.
It has most of it’s original vintage features, including moldings, stained glass, and a carved staircase along with 3 wood burning fireplaces.
All 6 bedrooms are on the third level.
The kitchen has stainless steel appliances and what look like stone counter tops.
There’s also a library, game room and a big lower level recreation room.
It has central air.
Will the hot luxury market, thanks to the record high stock market, finally help sell this landmarked mansion?
Alfred Cohen at Coldwell Banker now has the listing. See the pictures here.
817 W. Hutchinson: 6 bedrooms, 4 baths, 2 half baths, 12000 square feet, 2 car garage, studio
- Sold in November 1993 (no price listed)
- Originally listed in March 2011 for just 2 weeks at $5.195 million
- Re-listed in October 2011 for $4.995 million
- Lis pendens foreclosure filed in December 2011
- Was listed in October 2012 at $4.995 million
- Reduced
- Was listed in August 2013 at $4.5 million
- Withdrawn in February 2014 listed at $4.5 million
- I can’t tell if the bank now owns it
- Re-listed in November 2017 at $5.69 million
- Taxes are now $88,500 (they were $81,517 in August 2103 and they were $21,652 in October 2012)
- Central Air
- 3 fireplaces
- Bedroom #1: 19×19 (third floor)
- Bedroom #2: 16×14 (third floor)
- Bedroom #3: 17×12 (third floor)
- Bedroom #4: 14×11 (third floor)
- Bedroom #5: 10×15 (third floor)
- Bedroom #6: 12×20 (third floor)
- Recreation room: 50×28 (lower level)
DONT LIKE. TOO PLAIN. BEARS SUCK. GO BLACKHAWKS LOLZ!!!!!!!!
FIRSTIES!!!!!!!!!!
Great house, but the pool of people willing to pay over 5 million or so to live in Uptown has to be minute. Considering how large it is, there should be a lot more photos.
textbook example of the people who can afford this house don’t want to live in Buena Park and the people who want to live in Buena Park cannot afford this house.
Maybe a developer should look at converting to condos? B&B? Community center? Office space? Seems the property has outlived it’s usefulness as a mansion given the demographics of surrounding neighborhood.
This is a gorgeous house, but I can’t imagine paying this much to live in Uptown. If I’m going to live so far north, I may as well move to Glencoe and get my own private beach for $300k more: https://www.estately.com/listings/info/70-harbor-street
I hope that this house doesn’t get torn down or destroyed on the inside by turning it into a bunch of boring condos. I just don’t know who would buy this house in its current state unless it’s going to be turned into a museum.
while the neighborhood has changed a LOT for the better, there are still remnants of its awful past wandering around during daylight hours even
fantastic house, I could never afford, nor would I want to even want to buy if I had the money… give me a frickin place in Malibu for that kind of FU money, or if I had to live in Chicago, there is a LOT to choose from at that price point
they really should convert the place to condos or something, would be said if they tore the place down though
I used to live near this house. Such a cool neighborhood to walk on a nice day. Pretty far north though. Express busses pick up close and make it tolerable. Though I can’t imagine someone buying this house would be taking the bus.
This is a registered landmark district so I don’t think it can be torn town. But I kind of agree with many about paying this much to live in this area. The other side of Montrose if quite different from this area.
https://webapps.cityofchicago.org/landmarksweb/web/districtdetails.htm?disId=13
How did the taxes go from $21,652 (2012) to $81,517 (2103)? Aren’t there supposed to be caps to prevent that kind of abuse?
The bottom line is that this location is not a $5,000,000 location. Not even a $4,000,000 location. It doesn’t matter how grand the home is if the location doesn’t support the price.
“How did the taxes go from $21,652 (2012) to $81,517 (2103)? Aren’t there supposed to be caps to prevent that kind of abuse?”
I don’t think there are any protections unless you are old and poor. The city can and will force you out of your house in order to collect their property taxes. Politicians need to take care of their family, friends, and lazy retiree constituents.
“How did the taxes go from $21,652 (2012) to $81,517 (2103)?”
w/o looking: I’d guess a renovation credit/exemption expired.
“lazy retiree”
Looking forward to the day when I can pillory Jenny for being a lazy retiree, and say she doesn’t “deserve” medicare or social security.
“Looking forward to the day when I can pillory Jenny for being a lazy retiree, and say she doesn’t “deserve” medicare or social security.”
I pay into Medicare and Social Security. I’m never going to get a pension, so why the hell should I pay for other people’s pensions?
“I pay into Medicare and Social Security.”
You pay a tiny fraction of what you are likely to take out. Even accounting for “growth”.
Therefore, you will (most likely) be a taker, too.
How dare you think you can retire; work ’til you’re dead, or be branded as lazy.
“Seems the property has outlived it’s usefulness as a mansion given the demographics of surrounding neighborhood.”
Russ- do you mean the other dozen or so mansions that are on this same block?
Or those up the street, that are slightly smaller mansions, but that are also single family homes? What about the big 3-bedroom+ vintage condos that are also just 2 blocks away?
I’ve covered at least a half a dozen large single family homes in this neighborhood over the years.
“Looking forward to the day when I can pillory Jenny for being a lazy retiree, and say she doesn’t “deserve” medicare or social security.”
I don’t know how many in the working class you truly know, but anyone in that world who has a city or state pension is the richest guy in the family. The problem is that poor life decisions cause them to be poorer during life — often divorces or child support, bad investments, etc. But when they retire, the alimony is over, so is child support, and the stock/housing market is at all time highs – and that $6-9k a month pension check rolls in like clockwork every month, year after year…..everybody wants in on that fat pension. More often than not, the pensioners are wealthier in retirement when not working than they ever were when paying off their expensive F150 paying child support to two different mothers. Sure, they don’t quite live UMC like us folk but those pensions give them a far, far nicer lifestyle than anything else in the public sector would ever pay. I think what really hurts them is that it’s a lot easier to make flashy and poor financial decisions when you have guaranteed income. So they buy boats, take fancy vacations, drive nice cars, do expensive renovations to their homes because the future income is guaranteed. They haven’t got a dime in the bank but they get $X thousand guaranteed every month plus COLA. So many firefighters retire and the immediately finance a $100k boat or put in a gaudy $80k kitchen in their NW side bungalow.
“How dare you think you can retire; work ’til you’re dead, or be branded as lazy.”
We all used to work until we were dead. it’s only a modern concept that one can store enough wealth or be provided income so as to have a ‘retirement’. As a hunter gatherer if you stopped moving, you died. And even with the transition to agriculture, stored grain doesn’t last very long so if you weren’t out tilling your subsistence field, you had no food and died. That’s why working as firefighter to age 55 and retiring with a full pension – with enough income to buy a boat or a cabin up north, or both! – off the public’s taxes is so abhorrent to the rest of us working stiffs.
Is the luxury market really “hot”? And does that include the 5 million+ luxury market? It seems like luxury places priced relatively aggressively are selling, but a lot of others are sitting on the market for years.
“How dare you think you can retire; work ’til you’re dead, or be branded as lazy.”
Three of my four grandparents worked into old age because their notion was that if you retire, you die. The one who didn’t work until old age died young.
I will likely never be able to afford to retire. I resent having to pay for other people’s retirements when I’m not going to get one. I can see paying people a small stipend, like social security, so they aren’t destitute, but these huge pensions are ridiculous.
My R ‘friend’ posted
“… That’s why working as firefighter to age 55 and retiring with a full pension – with enough income to buy a boat or a cabin up north, or both! – off the public’s taxes is so abhorrent to the rest of us working stiffs…”
Ironic that self styled blue collar working stiff lawyer hd didn’t see anything abhorrent about his apparently able bodied relatives electing to lounge around watching tv & ‘get high & get by’ off the public’s taxes instead of working. Nor did hd complain about his law firm landing well compensated legal work paid by our taxes via political connections. It’s clearly different when the political connections benefit Rs? I’m guessing hd’s ok w his relatives (and others barely getting by) paying significantly higher taxes next year since someone needs to pay for the R’s ‘middle class tax cut’ plan including the critical need for tax relief to subsidize ‘middle class’s’ travel via private jets? Wadda stooge
“Ironic that self styled blue collar working stiff lawyer hd didn’t see anything abhorrent ”
I said I don’t blame them given the poor states of the job market for high school grads; but I never said I approved or encouraged them to get high and get by.
As for the political connections, that’s BS too of course. But I’m just a working stiff in the trenches.
WHERE IS MY PENSION?
PS you don’t pay taxes on SSDI or SSI, dummy! So my extended family relatives won’t be paying ‘significantly higher taxes’ goof ball!
“I will likely never be able to afford to retire.”
Why not?
Even in a low cost state or country? You can live in Thailand for cheap. You can live in many southern states for cheap. Probably just $1000 a month and most people’s SSI is slightly more than that.
“We all used to work until we were dead.”
Actually, modern medicine and technology is what changed the equation. Living to even 75 used to be rare. Now, it’s not. Most people never “retired” because they didn’t live long enough. They died of flu or pneumonia. (some still die of flu, unfortunately.)
Its not just firefighters, cops and teachers that get pensions…community college administrators, etc all people who don’t out their lives on the line or help kids, etc get them, with a three percent cost of living increase each year. I have friends who are retiring in their 50s now..who will get over 150,000 grand each year…(one got a political appointee on a state commission which hiked her pension up after just three year’s work) far more then now when she is working, so why shouldnt she retire. So we are paying for it, but each time pension costs are brought up its a sob story about blue collar workers or people who actually put their ass on the line so of course who couldn’t agree with that? But then there are those that sit their assess in offices, etc who get the big payouts..so yea, Im with Jenny. I have to fund my retirement and yours too?
There was a $3,000,000 price drop on this.
VB wins with his accurate quote of: “The bottom line is that this location is not a $5,000,000 location. Not even a $4,000,000 location. It doesn’t matter how grand the home is if the location doesn’t support the price”
So that is clearly the case with this property. But it is now down to $2.6M and the listing states “Accepting offers, must sell.” To me that suggests that there is still room to negotiate the price. Why is no one interested in picking up this house up in the low 2’s? Compared to other 2M sales of new construction within two miles this property has way more curb appeal and ego boosting ability for the status symbol seeking buyers.
Must be those insane taxes! Our government has ruined the value of this property owners great house with a $100K annual property tax bill.
The 2016 tax bill next door smaller lot but cool house was $26K. That one sold in 2017 at $2.4M but the bill was likley still based at least in part on a $1.2 sale of the property in 2012. Wonder what that bill will climb to this year.
Still listed, now at $2.6m
It is currently listed as a short sale. There is a similar property several houses east listed for $3.95mil. It has been sitting as well. In all honesty, I think this is a $1.5mil home. Hutchinson is too far north to command such high price tags, not to mention that Buena Park IS Uptown.
“Hutchinson is too far north to command such high price tags, not to mention that Buena Park IS Uptown.”
It’s been on and off the market for quite some time. That suggests the price needs to be lower.
Thanks for posting the update.
Living to even 75 used to be rare.
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Nope. Even the Bible refers to man’s “three score and ten” (70 years old).
Average life expectancy was low because of childhood disease mortality and women dying in childbirth. Once you got past those, 70-80 years was perfectly normal.
“Once you got past those, 70-80 years was perfectly normal.”
When social security was introduced, it was assumed you’d be on it for about 5 years. And that was for men, of course. Average life expectancy was not even 70 IF you made it that far to actually claim social security.
Gosh, all you needed to get was an infection and you were dead.