A condo unit belonging to Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, the famed 20th century architect, is coming to market this April.
Van der Rohe lived in the building, which isn’t in the modernist style he would later become known for, from 1940 until his death in 1969, according to Crain’s. He lived in the third-floor unit of the World War I-era building in Streeterville at the corner of Pearson Street and what is now called Mies van der Rohe Way. The condo building is across the street from the Chicago Museum Of Contemporary Art, a building designed in the modernist style as a nod to van der Rohe.
The condo will be listed on the market on April 20 for $839,000. The sellers are represented by Elizabeth Bennan Ellis of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices.
The current owners, Paul Winberg and Bruce Czuchna, bought the condo in 2012 and renovated it, adding a new kitchen and laundry room and details from van der Rohe’s era. The couple are selling because they plan to stay in Chicago but downsize.
The building has only 10 units, with each taking half a floor. It was designed by Robert S. DeGolyer in 1917, and was originally meant to be apartment rentals.
“It’s an elegant building, but very unassuming,” Winberg told Crain’s. “You might not notice it” with the colossal Water Tower Place and other high-rises all around.
Winberg and Czuchna paid $525,000 for the unit in 2012, and then renovated the home for about six months, with the help of New York-based James Mohn. That included re-plastering all the walls, recreating the original molding, installing air conditioning and redoing the floors.
The couple used old magazine photos of van der Rohe inside the condo as inspiration.
“There are photos of him puffing on a big cigar at home,” Winberg said.
The couple kept the original bathtub from van der Roche’s era in the bathroom attached to the room he slept in.
The couple had been house hunting for a decade and had originally planned to live in a high-rise building with lake views. They were drawn to the listing for the building, which offhandedly mentioned that van der Rohe lived here.
[Crain’s] — Miranda Davis
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