Historic penthouse fetches $7.7M in year’s second-priciest home sale

A historic penthouse on Lake Shore Drive has changed hands in a deal valued at $7.7 million, the second-highest home sale in the Chicago area this year.

The two-story penthouse at 1500 North Lake Shore Drive was acquired by an anonymous buyer for $962 per square foot, marking a 45 percent discount from its 2020 asking price of $17 million, Crain’s reported.

Colette Cachey Smithburg of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate represented the buyer, while the seller, the late Michael Wilkie, was represented by Tim Salm of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty. 

The 8,000-square-foot penthouse is on the 24th and 25th floors of a 1920 co-op building designed by architect Rosario Candela in collaboration with McNally & Quinn. 

Built to evoke the grandeur of a castle, the penthouse boasts six bedrooms, a carved wooden ceiling soaring 20 feet above the living room, a towering stone fireplace and a landscaped courtyard with a fountain and sweeping views of Lake Michigan. Intricate details include gothic windows and a painted barrel ceiling.

Wilkie bought the penthouse in 1975. The second-generation owner of DoAll Saws, he made headlines in 1996 when he broke royal protocol by asking Princess Diana to dance during her visit to Chicago. The moment, captured in photographs, became an iconic snapshot of Chicago’s social history, despite the controversy it stirred in the British media.

The most expensive home sale in Chicago this year was a Gold Coast condo that fetched $9.3 million in January.

Another historic property, a 7,000-square-foot mansion in suburban Hinsdale, sold for $6 million ($257 per square foot) last week after extensive renovations.

Meanwhile on Lake Michigan, some impressive properties have hit the market recently, including a 1920s estate in Winnetka built for magazine publisher Henry Haven Windsor Jr. Its $35 million asking price made it the most expensive listing in Illinois, but the price would be a loss for the sellers, Muneer Satter and Kristen Hertel, who spent a fortune renovating the property.

— Andrew Terrell