This huge Lincoln Park estate has become Chicago’s most expensive single family home. Magnificent 20,000-square-foot mansion officially came on the market for $18,75 million. The residence was listed a couple of months ago privately, but wasn’t featured in the MLS. It had been made available only to “qualified and seriously interested” buyers and details about the mansion were sparse. Now, Curbed Chicago is reporting that the home has hit the MLS along with photos and more details.
Thye Palladian villa-style mansion with six bedrooms and eight-and-a-half bathrooms and surrounding property stretch across five city lots. The property also includes two-bedroom guest house, an indoor swimming pool, a library, a theater room that looks like a miniature version of an actual movie theater, and a six car garage.
The listing at Estately.com describes the home as “the most beautiful property in the city or suburbs” adding that “There has never been a residence of this significance on the market. This is not just an estate, it is a lifestyle and far exceeds all expectations.”
The mansion was built more than 15 years ago by former MarchFirst CEO Robert Bernard and his wife Elisa, who hired architect Wayne Zediker to design the house and Chicago-based BGD&C Corp. to build it. They moved in in 1998 and sold it in a private transaction in 2002 for $9.5 million to former First Options CEO Timothy Mullen, now a private investor and part-owner of the Tampa Bay Rays, creating a record for being the most expensive home sale at that time. Mullen then paid $1.23 million the following year for an adjacent parcel, which houses the property’s guesthouse.
Now, Mullen has placed the entire property on the market for a lofty price.
