Midcentury Modern Lakefront Home Near Chicago Asks $7 Million

A striking slice of midcentury modernism on Kenilworth’s lakefront is for sale for the first time in nearly seven decades, in a test of whether design pedigree can outweigh development potential on the North Shore.

The heirs of Nydia Hohf listed the family’s 1957 home at 303 Sheridan Road for $7 million, represented by Baird & Warner’s Carol Hunt, Crain’s reported. The asking price amounts to $1,705 per square foot.

The 4,100-square-foot, four-bedroom, single-story residence sits on roughly three-quarters of an acre with 101 feet of Lake Michigan frontage and a seawall. It was designed by Keck & Keck, the trailblazing modernist firm known for its passive solar innovations and precision detailing.

The Hohfs — Nydia and her husband, Dr. Robert Hohf — commissioned the Kecks to create a home centered around a Japanese-inspired atrium. With Plexiglas shoji screens, terra cotta flooring and clerestory windows, the space serves as a lightwell and a visual centerpiece.

Architectural historian Susan Benjamin, co-author of Modern in the Middle: Chicago Houses 1929–1975, told the outlet that the home was historically significant for bringing modernism to tradition-bound Kenilworth.

The atrium’s innovative design embodied Keck & Keck’s emphasis on daylight and flow, helping introduce a sleek, international sensibility to Chicago’s North Shore. Keck & Keck were active designing homes throughout Chicagoland from the 1930s through the 1970s.

From the street, the house appears as a fortresslike wall of brick with a hidden entrance beneath a copper-accented porte cochere.

Inside, tongue-and-groove wood walls, built-in cabinetry and sliding partitions showcase the Kecks’ craftsmanship. Floor-to-ceiling windows overlook a broad lawn to the lake, equipped with the firm’s trademark operable louvers — an early precursor to climate control before air conditioning became standard.

Though the home is largely intact, it needs modern upgrades to utilities, HVAC, the roof and kitchen. Only one of three bathrooms is fully functional, Hunt said. She and the sellers hope to find a preservation-minded buyer, but acknowledge that its size may tempt teardown developers.

That’s a real risk in Kenilworth, where lakefront teardowns are routine. In nearby Winnetka, multiple estates have been razed for record-setting rebuilds topping $12 million. A developer recently paid $6.8 million for a teardown site just blocks away.

“We want to find someone who loves it for what it is,” Steve Hohf, Robert and Nydia Hohf’s son, told the outlet. “But once it’s sold, we can’t control what happens.”

— Eric Weilbacher