$1.7 Million Homes in Illinois, Massachusetts and Oregon

Oct 13, 2023

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A Frank Lloyd Wright house outside Chicago, a rowhouse on Beacon Hill in Boston and a Queen Anne Victorian in Portland.

By Julie Lasky

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Designed for a family named Carr, and later seamlessly expanded by a second owner (there have only been two), this house is in an area with three-acre zoning and backs onto a Glenview Park District nature preserve called the Grove. Still, it is only 15 minutes north of O’Hare International Airport. The drive southeast to the Chicago Loop is less than 40 minutes.

An example of Wright's Usonian style — typically, single-level, L-shaped houses with modest footprints — the John O. Carr House was bought by Edward and Carol Busche in 1965. In the early 1980s, Mr. Busche, an architect, expanded the dining room and added a family room, master suite and basement area, matching the brick, mahogany, flagstone and distinctively perforated concrete breeze blocks of the original structure. He also built a storage shed.

Size: 2,973 square feet

Price per square foot: $570

Indoors: The house forges a connection to the wooded lot with 17 sets of French doors, a good many of which open from the living room onto a narrow terrace that wraps around the north side of the building. The entrance foyer is a garden-like space with skylights, shallow flagstone steps, a water feature and breeze-block walls, where plants soften the transition between inside and outside. It takes you into a 37-foot-long social space with a vaulted ceiling that is loosely divided by a masonry column and has seating areas with fireplaces on either side.

To the left of the living area, as you enter, is a small, U-shaped kitchen wrapped in mahogany cabinets with red-toned countertops edged in stainless steel. The adjacent butler's pantry includes additional storage and work space, as well as a sink. The 17-by-18-foot glass-walled family room addition overlooking the pool lies beyond that. The dining area off the living room has been bumped out and includes a fixed credenza and narrow shelving.

To the right of the living area, past the conversation pit, is the master bedroom addition. The en suite bathroom includes a jetted tub encased by mahogany and stone, with an integrated planter that holds a living tree. There is also a walk-in shower, a mahogany vanity with twin sinks and a walk-in closet.

Three additional bedrooms (one that was the original master suite) and a second, shared bathroom are in a wing that extends perpendicularly from the living room. Two of these bedrooms have direct outdoor access.

Outdoor space: The heated swimming pool was added by the original owners in 1958. Parking is in a two-vehicle carport. Many oak trees enhance the property's feeling of privacy. An adjacent three-acre lot to the north is also available.

Taxes: $20,163

Contact: Erica C. Goldman or Christopher Stephens, Jameson Sotheby's International Realty, 773-682-0546; sothebysrealty.com

This Beacon Hill home is in a Federal-style brick building that was once owned by Christian Herter, the Massachusetts governor and secretary of state in the Eisenhower and Kennedy administrations. In the 1970s, the single-family building was turned into a condominium with five units, each occupying its own floor. This unit is on the third floor and can be reached by an elegant elliptical staircase or by an elevator. It is less than half a block east of Charles Street, the neighborhood's boutique- and cafe-filled shopping stretch, and about mile west of Faneuil Hall Marketplace and the waterfront. Massachusetts General Hospital is about half a mile north.

Size: 1,245 square feet

Price per square foot: $1,361

Indoors: A small foyer opens into a hallway. Turning right takes you to a grand, wood-paneled room with a box-beamed ceiling, an original marble fireplace flanked by built-ins and a pair of six-over-six sash windows (with original shutters) overlooking the Common. A 10-foot-square windowed space off this room could be used for dining, or a dining table could be set up closer to the kitchen, on the other side of the living room. The kitchen has pale Poggenpohl cabinetry with stone countertops and a tile backsplash with a brushed-glaze pattern. The appliances are Gaggenau and Miele.

At the other end of the hallway, on the north side of the unit, is a master bedroom that is more than 15 feet square and includes a fireplace and a large window looking out to the greenery along Branch Street. The en suite bathroom includes a glass-enclosed shower and a bidet. The guest bedroom's fireplace incorporates original delft tiles. The guest bathroom has a vintage-style vanity and a combined tub and shower.

Outdoor space: Parking is available in a garage under the Common.

Taxes: $14,610; plus a monthly HOA fee: $577

Contact: Nick Hanneman, Hanneman + Gonzales Team, Compass, 617-480-7775; compass.com

Known as the Stratton-Cornelius House, this cedar-sided Victorian in the King's Hill Historic District in southwest Portland is on the National Register of Historic Places. It was built for Howard Stratton, a prominent businessman who had a child with tuberculosis for whom a unique roll-top bed alcove that cantilevered off the third floor was designed (and remains). A subsequent owner was Charles W. Cornelius, a physician-turned-real-estate-developer.

The current owner, who bought the property three decades ago, added a garage with a green roof in 2008 and converted half of the basement into an accessory dwelling unit.

The house is in the Goose Hollow neighborhood, an easy walk east of Washington Park, the site of the Oregon Zoo, Portland Japanese Garden and International Rose Test Garden. Shopping and restaurants are a few blocks away. Providence Park, the Portland Timbers soccer stadium, is two blocks east. Powell's City of Books, in the Pearl District, is less than a mile in the same direction.

Size: 6,747 square feet

Price per square foot: $251

Indoors: Historic features include five wood-burning fireplaces with brick or glazed-tile surrounds; Povey Brothers stained-glass windows; old-growth fir floorboards; electric lighting (with gas reservoirs in case of power failures); built-in furniture and hardware.

Two sets of thick double doors open to a foyer with a fireplace flanked by wall cabinets. Doric wood columns frame a windowed niche at the front of the foyer and the entrance to the parlor off to the side. A two-toned wood staircase with paneled walls and a grove of knobby spindles rises from the center of the space. Attached to one of the newel posts is a large, curvaceous brass lamp; a Povey Brothers window and etched-glass wall sconces provide additional light.

The front and back parlors are divided by another set of columns and are hung with brass chandeliers with glass globes. The front parlor includes a corner bay window with decorative glass and a window seat. The back parlor has a fireplace with a mirrored overmantel. Beyond it is a dining room with a box-beamed ceiling, a built-in sideboard and a fireplace with an elaborately carved mantel. The original red oak floors were milled from Russian shipping containers and inlaid with walnut.

The 20th-century kitchen runs along the back. It has glossy wood cabinets, white floor and wall tile and a vintage cast-iron stove. A long central island is covered in a granite slab. Brass chandeliers with green-glass shades evoke Victorian desk lamps. A half bathroom is off to one side. Another door leads to a back hall and service staircase.

On the second floor, four bedrooms surround a central hallway. The largest has a three-window bay with a semicircular bench, a fireplace, a walk-in closet with a sink and access to an elliptical balcony. Next to it is a corner room with an en suite bathroom with a glass-enclosed shower. A third bedroom has windows on three walls and a fireplace. All of the rooms have hardwood floors and brass ceiling lights with multiple arms. They share a bathroom with a vintage claw-foot tub with a shower head and a vintage marble sink. Also on this level is a wood-paneled room with an eyebrow window that is fitted out with hookups for laundry appliances.

The third floor includes three more bedrooms, one with an attached half bathroom. There is also a sitting room, a full bathroom with a claw-foot tub and a kitchen.

The finished basement has a dedicated exterior entrance. The basement unit incorporates a bedroom with a walk-in closet, an office, a bathroom with a vintage tub and shower head and a laundry room.

Outdoor space: A deep front porch wraps around the side, overlooking the garage's green roof. The backyard includes a flagstone area with a firepit, an outdoor shower and a very old maple tree. It has been plumbed for a water feature and a sauna.

Taxes: $18,276 (based on a tax assessment of $772,560)

Contact: Andrew Pienovi or Brian Pienovi, Pienovi Properties at Windermere Realty Trust, 503-913-1200; pienoviproperties.com

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An earlier version of this article and an associated slide show photo caption incorrectly described the kitchen in the Frank Lloyd Wright house in Glenview, Ill. It includes a credenza, not a breakfront.

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