We’ve noticed the historic building at the corner of Winthrop and Lawrence avenues plenty of times, but we never knew it was called the “Fleur-de-Lis” until a sign went up announcing its conversion to condos. The name, it turns out, is carved in stone (literally), though we never noticed this detail above the entrances from 4801 to 4807 N Winthrop Ave.
Last Sunday we bumped into Jennifer Bradley, an agent with Keller Williams’ Lincoln Park office, who is selling the condos with Ted Mortellaro. She was on her way out of the building, but Bradley was kind enough to open it back up and give us a quick model tour.
The project includes a dozen condos – four duplexes and eight simplexes – in a striking building that according to Bradley, has the largest Queen Anne facade on the North Side. We can’t vouch for that, but we can tell you that the building is stunning – check out the grand corner turret that first drew our attention from Lawrence.
The inlaid brickwork, arched windows, classy bays and nicely integrated balconies are also worth noting. As you might expect given the name, the detailed stonework includes a stylized fleur-de-lis design. According to Bradley, the building was constructed in 1905 for $40,000 – ah, those were the days – and was zoned for ground-floor commercial, though developer New Horizons Development & Management Group opted for an all-residential conversion.
The interiors are pleasant and well finished – 42-inch cabinets, granite countertops, stainless steel appliances, recessed lighting, hardwood floors, nine-foot ceiling heights, large rear decks and Jacuzzi tubs. Prices, ranging from around $220,000 for a one-bedroom to $319,900 for the top two-bedroom two-bath duplex, seem competitive given the beauty of this building, the level of finishes, and the complete gut rehab (the builder took it down to the brick, and has plenty of photos to prove it).
But there is the location to consider. It’s close to the lake and steps from the Lawrence el stop in Uptown, but it also faces the Aragon Ballroom, where concert-goers line up by the hundreds before shows and clog the street after. Winthrop, which was once notorious, has improved dramatically, though Lawrence Avenue is still edgy. Bradley insists that location, directly across the street from the Aragon on Winthrop and from a surface parking lot on Lawrence, hasn’t hurt sales, which are at 50 percent.
We’re just happy to see a classic building that for a while became “one of the worst buildings in Uptown,” according to Bradley, returned to its original splendor.
