Dairy farm-turned home sells for $1.8M in Lake Forest

An old Lake Forest dairy barn that was transformed into a home sold for $1.8 million.

The five-bedroom, 6,239-square-foot brick and stone home was built in 1928 for the Meadowood gentleman’s farm and converted into a residence in the 1950s, the Chicago Tribune reported.

The home at 570 Hathaway Circle is known for a second-floor hay-loft dome that measures 60 feet in diameter. The former dairy farm was designed by Ralph Varney to resemble a 16th-century French Normandy structure and originally had seven buildings and no main house. After the farm closed in the 1930s, the buildings sat vacant for about two decades until they were converted into single-family homes that stand on Hathaway Circle to this day.

Photos of 570 Hathaway Circle in Lake Forest (Redfin)

The dairy barn has been updated over the years. It now has four and a half bathrooms and a library. An attached three-level silo contains the living areas including a first-floor primary bedroom suite with two walk-in closets and an updated bathroom. The home has hardwood floors and 18-inch-thick walls. The kitchen has been updated with travertine flooring, quartzite countertops, a Sub-Zero refrigerator and a La Cornue range.

The spiral staircase and exposed brick walls in the entryway remain as reminders of the home’s past.

The showstopper is the original hay loft.

The original hay loft located in 570 Hathaway Circle (Redfin)

“It’s just an amazing piece of architecture, and everyone who walks in is just wowed and awed by it,” Sally Wood of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago said. “My clients lived there 10 years and did quite a bit of interior work updating the house, and they’re just so excited to see the home passed on to the new owners for them to enjoy and honor it the way they have.”

The home sits on 0.8 acres of landscaped land and has a swimming pool.

The sellers, who paid $1.275 million for the house in 2013, first listed the home for $1.99 million in January. In March, they reduced the asking price to $1.89 million.

The home, along with the other six former farm buildings on Hathaway Circle, were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2000.

570 Hathaway Circle in Lake Forest (Redfin)

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