“Castle” Mansion in Chicago Suburb Oak Brook Asks $5 Million

A suburban fortress built like a castle is on the market in Oak Brook, asking $4.99 million, Crain’s reported.

The 12,000-square-foot home at 3015 Lincoln Road was designed and built in 2009 by seller Paul Iwanski, president of Iwanski Masonry, a contractor known for institutional projects like fire stations and schools.

The house’s defining feature is its 18-inch-thick, rampart-capped stone walls, which the listing describes bluntly: “It’s designed like a fortress because it is a fortress.” Coldwell Banker Realty’s Joseph Champagne has the listing.

The property includes five bedrooms, three fireplaces, a wine cellar, home theater, elevator, grand staircase, game room and four-car garage. It sits on 0.89 acres. The price comes out to $417 per square foot. It was last appraised for $1.29 million in 2023, DuPage County records show.

Iwanski had previously floated the idea of turning the home into a bed and breakfast and reportedly advertised it in 2010, with a billboard reading “King Wanted,” placed a mile from the O’Hare Oasis along the Tri-State Tollway. That year, he listed the property for $5.7 million.

The new price reflects a $700,000 discount from that original ask. The home was last removed from the market in 2016 and hasn’t traded hands since being built.

The home enters a suburban luxury market that’s cooled from its pandemic-era frenzy. While prices in Oak Brook remain strong relative to other suburban enclaves, high-end homes often sit longer without significant price adjustments, particularly those with ultra-custom architecture or thematic design, like this castle-inspired estate.

Rare trophy properties in western enclaves can still command top dollar. In Oak Brook, a $4.75 million sale in June 2023 marked the suburb’s priciest in 15 years, though the castle listing on Lincoln Road could break the record if sold at its asking price.

The listing also comes amid a mixed but still-active stretch in the Chicago area overall as the high-end market continues to see action across city and suburb; a renovated Gold Coast mansion, built by famed “Queen of Chicago” socialite Bertha Palmer in the 1880s, hit the market last week for $8 million.

In March, a Lincoln Park mansion designed by Dirk Lohan sold for $5.8 million, though at a steep discount from its $8.1 million sale price just three years prior. And in Winnetka, the ultra-luxury lakefront market has stayed hot, with two $12 million deals closing in quick succession and another $35 million mansion going under contract in early February.

— Judah Duke