The 10-bedroom, 11,110-square-foot Winnetka-area mansion that Andy McKenna, the Chicago Bears part-owner and former McDonald’s Corp. chairman, owned from 1976 until his death at age 93 in February has been listed by his heirs for $5.75 million.
One of the city’s best-connected executives, McKenna was president of the Chicago Cubs and the Chicago White Sox at different times — making him the only person ever to hold both positions — and he helped keep the Sox in Chicago in the mid-1970s when a former owner was considering selling the team to an ownership group that had wanted to relocate the team to Seattle. McKenna’s day job was in owning Morton Grove-based paper company Schwarz Supply Source Inc., but he was far better-known for being the McDonald’s non-executive chairman, a role he held from 2004 until 2016.
In Winnetka, McKenna’s U-shaped stone mansion was designed by architect Spencer Solon Beman and built in 1931 for George B. Everitt, the chairman of the Merchandise National Bank and the former president of Montgomery Ward & Co.
The mansion has nine full bathrooms, two half bathrooms, a turret, beamed ceilings, arched entryways and a wood-paneled office.
Outside, the 2.72-acre property has a pool, a one-bedroom guest apartment, a red bridge, a Japanese tea house, a putting green, a tennis court that also can be used for pickle ball, a pebble driveway and manicured English gardens
McKenna and his late wife, Joan, who died in 2019, bought the mansion in 1976 and used the property to host their seven children and 24 grandchildren.
“This is a family estate, and the beauty for the McKenna family was coming there and not knowing who was going to be there that Sunday. It was always fun and a true family compound,” listing agent Jena Radnay of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate told Elite Street.
Radnay, who formerly worked in advertising for McDonald’s, said she was honored to list the McKenna estate after having spent time once in the McDonald’s Corp. boardroom.
“He was simply a pure gentleman and demanded the room. He was an iconic businessman who Chicago was so lucky to have,” Radnay said.
Radnay highlighted the mansion’s “real-life fairy tale with even a wishing well to complete this story.”
“From the manicured golf hole to the red bridge that takes you to the Japanese tea garden to the tennis court and pickle ball area, and then stepping inside and feeling the comfort and warmth of the house with stained beamed ceilings, arched hallways and cozy nooks — it’s a magical estate,” she said.
The mansion technically is located in unincorporated New Trier Township, but bears a Winnetka mailing address. Its 2.72-acre size makes it one of the larger parcels in the Winnetka area. And it sits next door to the six-bedroom, 27,000-square-foot French Provincial-style “Le Reve” mansion on 2 acres that was listed in 2009 for a then-Chicago-area record asking price of $32 million but finally sold in 2020 for $7.25 million, according to public records, or for $8.75 million, according to its real estate agent. The difference between those two amounts likely relates to the sale of other personal property in that mansion that was included in the sale, such as furniture.
The McKenna mansion had a $64,047 property tax bill in the 2021 tax year.
The Wall Street Journal first reported on the listing.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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