The Guide: Chicago
September 1, 2005
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
An architectural detail of Marshall Field’s. Photography by Anne Evans, Courtesy Chicago Architecture Foundation. (Click image to enlarge.) Realtors
Chris Downey of Koenig & Strey GMAC Realty (an affiliate of Christie’s Great Estates) specializes in the suburbs and currently has listings for the former residence of W. Clement Stone, which is listed at $9.75 million, and a Cape Code style home on 4.7 acres with its own boat dock, listed at $4.975 million. Also with Koenig & Strey, Mary Bennet has a Richard Schmidt home from 1896 in Lincoln Park on the market for $11 million. Katherine Chez at Coldwell Banker has a three-bedroom condo with smart-home technology on the top of a North Lake Shore Drive high-rise for $6.25 million. Local company Baird and Warner has been operating in the city since 1855 and has listings for a 21-acre Lake Bluff property with architecture by Benjamin Marshall (who built the Drake Hotel) listed at $25 million, as well as a David Adler home from 1931 in Lake Forest offered at $19.5 million. Another local company, Rubloff, has listings for a three-bedroom penthouse at the Four Seasons offered at $5.7 million, and a historic townhouse from 1910 on the Gold Coast listed at $4.9 million.
Real Estate
LR Development, 312.595.7400, www.lrrealty.com
Skidmore Owings &
Merrill, 312.554.9090, www.som.com
Lucien
LaGrange, 312.751.7400, www.llarch.com
Booth Hansen, 312.869.5000,
www.boothhansen.com
Koenig &
Strey, 312-944-8900, www.ksgmac.com
Coldwell Banker,
312.751.9100, www.coldwellbanker.com
Baird and
Warner, 800.644.1855, www.bairdwarner.com
Rubloff,
312.368.5300, www.rubloff.com
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
The Blue Cross Blue Shield headquarters, designed by Lohan Caprile Goettsch. Copyright Steinkamp/Ballogg Photography, Courtesy Goettsch Partners. (Click image to enlarge.) Architects
In a city where temperatures are below freezing for several
months of the year, function tends to beat out form, even among modernists—a
lesson Mies van der Rohe learned when his unhappy client (and supposed lover)
Edith Farnsworth ranted to House Beautiful, “less is not more, it is simply
less,” in reaction to the all-glass weekend house Mies had built her outside of
the city. Thus, typical Chicago homes tend to be on the sturdier side, often
made from limestone or brick.
; function voidFunc() { } voidFunc();)
A 1896 Lincoln Park home (for sale through Mary Bennet). (Click image to enlarge.) Contemporary modernists like David Hovey (winner of our 2005 “Best of the Best” Architect category), who trained at the Illinois Institute of Technology, continue to push the envelope of innovation. Since founding Optima in 1978, Hovey has acted as architect and realtor, creating projects like the Old Orchard Woods Condominiums, a large-scale development about 15 miles north of the city made from glass and steel, overlooking an oak forest. Another modernist influenced by the city’s framework, Douglas Ross (winner of the 2001 AIA Chicago Design Excellence Award) takes an environmentally conscious approach to his projects—oftentimes incorporating a site’s natural landscape into the architecture to create homes that seek to redefine the suburban landscape. Marvin Herman, who lives in a historic George Maher building, is well-versed in a variety of styles, from Art Deco to contemporary. His firm has been operating in the city for more than 20 years, and has completed projects throughout Chicago, including historic renovations on the Gold Coast and new structures in the suburbs. Regardless of style, his projects always include detailed millwork, stonework and architectural elements specific to their surroundings. Joan Craig of Lichten Craig trained early on at Sotheby’s, where she was able to study fine and decorative arts, finishes and materials. Before establishing Lichten Craig in 1996 in New York, Craig worked at Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, one of the nation’s largest firms. Since opening its Chicago office in 2004, the firm has worked on several architectural restorations, as well as sophisticated interiors, which comprise nearly one-third of their commissions.
advertisement
