Check out Winthrop Properties’ new Winthrop Club, a 15-story high-rise slated for 1567 Maple Street in downtown Evanston. The name has a WASP-y ring to it, but there is nothing neo-Establishment about the architecture of this attractive contemporary high-rise. Bob Horner, who is a principal of Winthrop Properties, tells Yo that the company wanted to build a “vintage 1890s”-looking high-rise modeled on some of the older towers along Lake Shore Drive, but the Evanston Plan Commission had other ideas.
“The commission has an appreciation for modern architecture,” Horner says. The resulting was an International-style tower, designed by FitzGerald Associates Architects.
The 99-unit high-rise has an interesting facade, which features gently curving walls on two sides. The curves translate into the floor plans of some of the units. Horner says that the idea behind the curved design was to give the units “a little bit more interest,” and that the company was initially worried that the curved design might make the condos difficult to furnish, but he’s confident that they won’t be. In that regard, the project reminds us a little of that other Evanston development, Grand Bend at Green Bay.
The curved walls also maximise view of Evanston, the Chicago skyline and the lake, according to Horner, although the views shown at the development’s Web site don’t really look like anything to write home about, so we’ll have to get back to him on that one. He also didn’t tell us about the boxy-looking structure to the right of the tower, which looks like it has a green roof on it. Homes are priced from the $300s to $1.8M.