Highland Park, Illinois | $ 1.499 million
A colonial revival from 1938 with five bedrooms, three full bathrooms, and two half baths on 0.37 acre lot
This suburban home on the North Shore originally belonged to Leslie Goudie, a leader of the Chicago Teamsters Union at a time when the organization was shaken by gang violence. Mr Goudie allegedly traveled in an armored car accompanied by police bodyguards to avoid the fate of his predecessor Patrick Berrell, who was killed by machine gun fire. Mr. Goudie died in 1944 of complications from a hernia operation. Since then there has only been one owner of the house.
The property is half a mile south of the Highland Park business district, which has a Metra train station with connections to Chicago (approximately an hour's drive). The travel time on I-94 is around 35 minutes with little traffic. The summer residence of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ravinia is two miles south; the Chicago Botanic Garden is three miles south; and a public beach on Lake Michigan is a mile and a half east.
Size: 6,477 square feet
Price per square meter: $ 231
Inside: The front door is in a flat central portico crowned by a wrought iron balcony. It opens into a foyer with reclaimed light wood floors, light blue-green walls with ivory moldings, a Murano glass chandelier, and a curved staircase with wrought-iron spindles and railings. On the right is a 10 meter living room with the same finishing materials and pallets; It includes a bay window and a wood-burning fireplace with a deco-style carved wood surround with black marble. The decoration themes continue in the formal dining room on the left.
A swing door opens from the dining room to a breakfast area with a bay window and an adjoining kitchen with a white, black and blue green mosaic tile floor, white tiled walls, original white metal cabinets with stainless steel covers, and updated appliances.
Opposite the foyer from the entrance is a closed hallway with two cupboards, a dressing table and at the end a guest toilet. The predominant color is a pale raspberry shade.
The master suite is located at the rear of the ground floor. The focus is on a 27-meter-long bedroom with a kitchenette with a fridge, freezer and dishwasher. The room is connected to a cave with wide, built-in bookshelves at one end and a lighted courtyard at the other. The private bathroom is clad with original Art Deco tiles and has two sinks, a wheelchair-accessible shower and a mirrored dressing area with vanity. Next to it is a 6 by 11 meter wardrobe.
A second bedroom suite is upstairs, to the right of the hallway. It has light green walls, a trio of closets and a dressing area with three additional closets and built-ins. The private vintage bathroom has a separate shower and bathtub. Two bedrooms in a row on the left side of the hall share a bathroom in the hallway with pink vintage tiles and a combined bath and shower. The fourth bedroom at the back of the house has a sloping ceiling and built-in desks and closets. It is next to a second office that is 7 meters long and leads onto a terrace of approximately 500 square meters with a hot tub.
A finished room in the basement with pine-paneled walls and a fireplace served as a lounge. It has a bar with a working beer tap and stainless steel sink, and is adjacent to a room with a dining area, full kitchen, and pantry. There is also a half bathroom on this level.
Outside space: A spiral staircase leads from the rear upper deck to a stone terrace in the background. The attached garage on the side has double doors and direct access to the main level. The large, grassy back yard is completely fenced. There are additional lawns and paved seating in front of the house.
Taxes: $ 20,209 (2019)
Contact: Gus Karigan, @Properties, 847-732-6393; atproperties.com
Grand Haven, Michigan | $ 1.499 million
A 1935 four bedroom, two and a half bathroom summer home on 3.64 acres with 60 feet of private beach frontage on Lake Michigan
This clapboard vacation home on the east bank of Lake Michigan has been owned by a single family (with seven children) since the 1950s. The agent described it as "rustic but well-kept" with a roof that was replaced in 2013. It's not insulated, but has electric baseboard heating and two wood-burning fireplaces to help ease the chill on those unusual days. On a cliff with spectacular lake views less than 10 minutes south of Grand Haven, a seaside town with 11,000 residents, it is directly below the Rosy Mound Natural Area, a park with dunes, paths and a beach. Grand Rapids is 50 km east and it takes about three hours to drive from Chicago.
Size: 2,429 square feet
Price per square meter: $ 617
Inside: Knotty pine covers the interior walls and ceilings, and the floors are hardwood. The fireplace in the living and dining room is surrounded by concrete and patterned tiles; Sliding windows look out over the lake and the lightly wooded property. A simple white kitchen has an electric range and stainless steel sink and is connected to the smaller of the two screened porches. (The larger one is outside the living room.)
One bedroom is on the ground floor with direct access to a bathroom with a shower over the bath and a separate entrance from a hallway off the kitchen. The master bedroom is on the second floor and has a brick fireplace, en-suite bathroom and access to a wide terrace on the roof of the larger porch. Two further bedrooms on the upper floor share a hall bathroom with a shower over the bathtub.
Outside space: The house is reached by a long, shared gravel road. A wooden staircase with 60 steps leads you down to the beach. Large plots in the south and the park in the north give a strong sense of privacy.
Oakland, California | $ 1.475 million
A 1995 contemporary style home with three bedrooms, two and a half bathrooms on 0.13 acre lot overlooking San Francisco Bay
This cul-de-sac in the Hiller Highlands neighborhood was part of redevelopment that came after the area was devastated by the 1991 Oakland firestorm. The property is located a short distance from the Grove Shafter Freeway, which provides direct access to San Francisco and Silicon Valley. It is about five miles east of the Claremont neighborhood in Berkeley and five miles east of the Claremont Club and Spa. The University of California's 34-acre Botanical Garden in the Berkeley Hills is six miles northwest.
Size: 2,856 square feet
Price per square meter: $ 516
Inside: The stucco-clad house is entered either through two individual garages or through the entrance door in between. All three doors open to a foyer with a backlit glass tile ceiling, freshly painted walls, and reconditioned light hardwood floor (the last two features are found throughout the main floor). The first door to the left of the central hallway leads to a breakfast nook with one of several new lights on the property. The room opens into a kitchen with wooden ceiling boards and beams and simple wooden cabinets with quartz worktops. Behind it is a dining room with a wooden ceiling and sliding glass doors that open onto a terrace.
The sequence of rooms to the right of the front door begins with a guest toilet with a quartz-covered washstand; continues with a family room with wooden ceilings, sound wiring and a bookcase built into a niche; and culminates in a living room with large, barred windows and a wood-burning fireplace.
At the end of the hallway, between the open living and dining room, there is a metal staircase that leads down to the bedroom floor. There, the master suite comprises a newly carpeted bedroom with direct access to a lower deck, two wardrobes (one of which is accessible) and a bathroom with double washbasins drawn from a long wooden vanity. A shower with a glass door and a bathtub are positioned next to each other. A second carpeted bedroom also opens to the lower deck. The third bedroom is smaller and has a double wardrobe with folding doors. The two guest rooms share a bathroom that contains a separate shower room with a chest of drawers. There is also its own laundry room.
Outside space: The home features a two story deck that was recently custom built from redwood.
Taxes: $ 18,438 (estimated)
Contact: Ken Nwokedi, Toro Property Company, 510-220-2989; 59bayforest.com
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