A five-bedroom, 6,000-square-foot vintage Prairie-style mansion in Wilmette that was designed by a noted architectural firm and that was owned by former Smashing Pumpkins guitarist James Iha from 1998 until 2001 sold on Dec. 7 for $2.74 million.
Built in 1909, the 17-room brick house was designed by the Tallmadge & Watson architectural firm and sits on an unusually large half-acre lot. Iha bought the house in 1998 for $1.05 million, and he sold it in 2001 for $1.16 million to Liz Van Horn.
Van Horn, who is affiliated with Coldwell Banker, also was the home’s listing agent. She expanded the home in 2010, and told Elite Street that she was selling because she was downsizing. She added that the house has “a phenomenal layout, with a beautiful hearth room” and a huge stone masonry fireplace, and she noted that she now lives just one block away from the house. She added that the buyers were a couple who previously had lived just one block away.
“I love Lake Avenue,” she said. Of her former home’s new owners, she said, “They got it decorated and moved in the next day. I think they’re pretty happy.”
Van Horn, whose co-listing agent was Vicki Nelson, first listed the house in July for $2.87 million. She never reduced her asking price, and she found a buyer in October.
The mansion has 5 ½ bathrooms, a two-story stained glass front window gable and a hearth room with a 10-foot ceiling, built-in custom cabinetry, a fireplace and a wet bar. Other features include a kitchen with granite countertops and a new double oven, a mudroom, a primary bedroom suite with a two-story stained glass window, a new slate roof, a lower-level family room, copper gutters and downspouts, a paneled dining room, an office and a living room with Prairie-style quarter-sawn wood banding, built-in bookcases and a narrow Roman brick gas fireplace.
The mansion had a $35,879 property tax bill in the 2021 tax year.
Founded by two former draftsmen for architect Daniel H. Burnham, the Tallmadge & Watson firm designed numerous homes in Chicago’s suburbs, including in Evanston, Oak Park, Wilmette and Glen Ellyn.
Iha now owns a vintage three-bedroom house in Los Angeles’ Eagle Rock neighborhood, which he purchased in 2015 for $1.04 million.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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