Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his former wife, Melinda, on Monday sold a five-bedroom house they owned in Hyde Park for $1.5 million — $50,000 below their asking price.
The Gates family owned the house from 2018 until 2022 — years that coincided with the time spent on campus by the couple’s son, Rory Gates, who graduated from the University of Chicago in June with a bachelor’s degree. The Kirkland, Washington-based Union Street Trust, which is an entity tied to the Gates family, paid $1.25 million in spring 2018 to buy the house, which is just a few homes away from the university’s athletics center.
Bill and Melinda Gates divorced in late 2021, and there is no evidence that the property had changed hands since the couple bought it in 2018.
Built in 1902, the three-story house has 4½ bathrooms, hardwood floors, custom window treatments and an eat-in kitchen with professional appliances, white Shaker cabinetry with glass transoms, subway tile backsplash, an island with bar seating and a large breakfast area with doors leading outside to a deck. Other features include snow melt on the front steps, a second-floor primary bedroom suite with a private balcony and a finished basement with a large family room.
Listing agent Jason O’Beirne declined to comment on the identities of his sellers, but told Elite Street that his clients had received multiple offers for the home and “did well.”
The couple first listed the house on Aug. 3 — two months after Rory Gates’ June graduation.
The house had a $20,369 property tax bill in the 2020 tax year.
Public records do not yet identify the buyers.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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