Coldwell Banker agents Jane and Didier Lepauw wanted to preserve Lansdowne, a Benjamin Marshall mansion on 21 acres in Lake Bluff, but the property might soon be divided into seven parcels, according to a story in today’s Chicago Tribune. After four and a half years on the market, the $25 million lakefront estate still hasn’t found a buyer.
The $25 million price tag makes this the most expensive home for sale in Illinois. The Georgian Colonial Revival house by the designer of the Drake and other local landmarks includes 14,000 square feet, 11 bedrooms, 9.5 bathrooms, a coach house, tennis courts, a pool, a polo field, formal gardens and a winding drive that crosses two limestone bridges and grounds designed by landscape architect Jens Jensen.
Why aren’t well-heeled buyers lining up for the estate? Well, there’s rich and then there’s rich. Vince and Jennifer might have been good candidates for this one, but apparently no one in the small club of local buyers who can afford a $25 million house has stepped up. To put the price in perspective, your annual property tax bill on this place would be north of $150,000 a year. If you put $5 million down, your monthly mortgage payment (principal and interest only) would be $127,000 and change. The heating bill, it’s safe to assume, would run on the high side.
If the property is divided, the home, which was built in 1911 for Rand McNally (yep, the map guy), will likely be preserved on its own three-acre parcel. But must it come to this? Couldn’t we take a page from Newport here? Wouldn’t this make a hell of a museum on which some local gazillionaire could leave his stamp? Zell, Driehaus, Pritzker – you listening?