Lake Forest mansion with footnote to Jan 6 hits market at $4.4M

The Lake Forest mansion of a former federal judge and Boeing executive could test Chicagoland’s luxury market.

Michael Luttig — who advised former Vice President Mike Pence not to block certification of the 2020 presidential election — and his wife, Elizabeth, are asking $4.4 million for their 7,200-square-foot home on Westminster Road, Crain’s reported. The price comes to $603 per square foot.

Compass agents Marina Carney and Andrew Mrowiec have the listing.

It’s unclear when the Luttigs bought the house, although public records show that it last traded for $3.7 million, or $509 per square foot, in 2006. The Luttigs’ names didn’t appear on the property’s tax bill until 2011, however. The bill went to a mortgage company from 2006 to 2010. While not confirmed, it’s likely that the Luttigs were behind the 2006 purchase. 

Aside from a few eight figure deals, the top end of Lake Forest’s luxury market hovers between $6 million and $8 million depending on market conditions. In February, a 6,500-square-foot mansion in the north suburb traded for $6.3 million, or $971 per square foot. 

In November, the seven-bedroom, 7,500-square-foot mansion at 1421 Lake Road sold for $7.8 million. Buyers paid $7.9 million for the 7,600-square-foot home at 255 North Green Bay Road last summer, following a $1 million price chop. Each of those sales equated to $1,040 per square foot. 

The Luttigs’ home, a hybrid Cape Cod-ranch style built in 1961, sits on 1.3 acres. It features five bedrooms, six full bathrooms, a wood-paneled office, several fireplaces and a media room with a theater. 

The house has received several renovations since 2014, including a reconfigured primary suite on the second floor that added a private deck overlooking the yard, plus the addition of a garden room. 

The town’s lakefront beach and park is just a few blocks away.

On Jan. 4, 2021, Luttig advised an attorney for Pence not to follow lawyer John Eastman’s claims that the Vice President could block certification of the 2020 election results. Eastman has since been criminally indicted for attempting to obstruct the election results.

 The next day, Luttig wrote, “the Constitution does not empower the vice president to alter in any way the votes that have been cast, either by rejecting certain of them or otherwise.”

Luttig later said giving that advice was “the highest honor of my life.”

—Quinn Donoghue

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