A seven-bedroom, 6,987-square-foot Second Empire Italianate-style mansion in Glencoe that was built in the mid-1800s — making it Glencoe’s oldest home — sold on May 23 for $1.5 million.
The 15-room mansion, on Glencoe Drive, was built as a country house for a one-time Chicago mayor, Walter Gurnee, who is the namesake of the Village of Gurnee, and was significantly expanded in 1876. More than a century later, the mansion was the subject of a major reconstruction and rejuvenation in 1996 and 1997.
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After being Chicago’s mayor, Gurnee was named president of the Chicago and Milwaukee Railroad, which built the rail line that passes through downtown Glencoe. Through a series of mergers, the railroad later became the Chicago and North Western Railway and today is the Union Pacific. Gurnee often joined with partners to buy up land in areas where rail stations would develop.
In Glencoe, however, Gurnee built his own home overlooking the train station. Later, the structure was a boardinghouse during the Depression, and it remained a multiunit structure well after World War II. The mansion also suffered extensive damage from a fire in June 1962.
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The three-story mansion has 7-1/2 bathrooms, two fireplaces, 11-foot ceilings, two-foot crown moldings and two staircases with antique mahogany newel posts and handrails. Other features include a 26-foot wraparound front porch, office space both on the second and third floors, and a second-floor primary bedroom suite with a balcony and two separate custom closets. The third floor has three large bedrooms, two bathrooms, a second laundry room and an exercise room.
The mansion sits on a 0.64-acre property.
“I think it’s a fabulous house. It’s been here forever, and it will be here forever,” listing agent Katie Traines of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate told Elite Street. “The house has kept its charm even with the updates. And the 11-foot ceilings are extremely appealing.”
The sellers had purchased the mansion in 1996 for $712,000. They first listed it in July 2021 for $2.25 million and cut their asking price to $1.95 million in September and then to $1.65 million in February.
The mansion had a $50,616 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance writer.
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