Chicago home for sale developed by woman in 1880s

Homes developed by women during the 1880s aren’t easily found, but one just hit the market in Chicago’s Hyde Park.

A green Queen Anne-style four-bedroom house totaling 2,500 square feet on a section of Harper Avenue called Rosalie Villas is listed for sale for $1.1 million, Crain’s reported.

The villas were named for Rosalie Buckingham, who inherited the wealth of railway grain elevator operators. She subdivided the land and hired an architect to design the community, the outlet reported. Buckingham was a cousin of Clarence Buckingham, for whom the famous fountain in Grant Park is named.

Stained glass is included in the 1885 home’s design as is original tile.

(Source: Zillow)

The seller is Anne Hamada, Crain’s reported, citing Cook County property records, and the home is represented by Susan O’Connor Davis of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago.

The neighborhood included 42 homes that were built individually but within design parameters laid out by Solon Beman, the architect of the town of Pullman in the 1880s who designed much of the Rosalie neighborhood, Crain’s reported. O’Connor Davis, the author of a 2013 book about historical Hyde Park properties, isn’t sure who designed the home for sale, the paper reported.

After developing the neighborhood, Buckingham married Harry Selfridge in 1890, according to Crain’s. He was an executive at Marshall Field who later opened a Chicago department store, and then moved to London in 1906 to found the department store Selfrdiges.

Buckingham died in 1918, Crain’s reported, and is buried in England, to where she moved after the new store launched.

Eight homes in the Rosalie Villas section of Harper have sold in the past five years at prices between $540,000 to $1.75 million, Crain’s reported.

[Crain’s] – Sam Lounsberry

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