Spanish Style in a Suburb: $15.8M Villa Near Chicago Is Among Illinois’ Most Expensive Listings

Spanish Style in a Suburb: $15.8M Villa Near Chicago Is Among Illinois’ Most Expensive Listings

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Want to live like you’re in Spain? If the answer is Si, then snap up this villa in Winnetka, IL, and you’ll be set—except for the harsh winters.

But be prepared to pay mucho for the Spanish-style mansion, which is listed for $15,850,000 with Jena Radnay of @properties. It’s the most expensive house for sale in this North Shore community of 12,000 people. The appealing locale along Lake Michigan is just 16 miles north of Chicago.

This mansion far surpasses Winnetka’s median listing price of $1,490,000. In fact, it’s the state’s third most expensive listing, trailing two Chicago mansions.

Waterfront living

The gated property of 2.2 acres includes a main house and a two-story cabana. The main house was built in 1912 and named after its fourth owner, W. Clement Stone.

There are five bedrooms, five baths, and four half-baths in the main house, and two bedrooms and two baths in the cabana. Both boast clay tile roofing.

“He was all about positivity and productivity,” Radnay says of Stone, who published “New Thought” self-help books.

After Stone’s death in 2002, the family’s trust sold it to the current homeowner. In 2009, a cabana designed by Paul Konstant was added. It features an elevator and custom bar, as well as a pool with a water feature.

Konstant also added luxe features to the main house, including quartz-clad baths and a walk-in closet for the second-floor primary suite.

A grand foyer with a double-atrium staircase and braided columns is original to the home. Nearly every room faces the water.

The dining room features five chandeliers and a hand-molded ceiling. Another glamorous amenity is the speakeasy-style bar on the lower level. A billiard room is yet another space to entertain.

The kitchen and family room will need some updating, Radnay notes.

‘Grand entertaining’

“When this house was built, it was all about grand entertaining, so your entertaining spaces are beautiful,” she says. “The kitchen doesn’t have that huge, open feeling [of] kitchens today.”

But the cooking area is equipped with stainless-steel appliances.

“Konstant has already drawn, for my seller, a set of plans to rehab the house—with a new kitchen, family room, and a two-car garage,” Radnay says. “If someone wants to take the plans and run with it, they can.”

At one time, Ovaltine founder Albert Wander also owned the villa.

While the asking price may seem steep, it’s competitive with the local market—and the recent sale of the nearby $12,750,000 Challenger Estate.

“That house was a teardown. It had no beach, no bluff, no house to work with. It was a house for land only,” Radnay says.

Another selling point for the Stone estate is access to a private, 165-foot sandy beach.

“Sometimes these beaches on Lake Michigan have stone, or you could have no beach. It has a huge sandy presence,” Radnay says.

Radnay envisions two types of buyers: “The first is a buyer that wants to redo the inside. Someone might also be tearing down the house to rebuild the main house to match the cabana house. If someone’s going to rehab the house, you can live right there,” she says. “If someone was to rebuild this house, you could never put the pool where it is today. The pool is grandfathered in.”

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