Tasteful friends: a 1928 duplex penthouse in Chicago by architect David Adler, $2.995M

The huge sculpted lips in the built-in cabinets are classic nouveau riche.

Late 1920s duplex penthouse apartments are my fave OP.

I’ll take it. I’ll have Ralph close the deal

Very beige and black.

I like it but the lake view is too limited. A couple of those other buildings need to be demolished.

Lovely. Great staging. Building is too old and infrastructure cannot be adequately updated.

Dowdy

Ewww, it's in Chicago, where there's a murder on North Michigan Avenue in broad daylight every thirty seconds.

[quote]Building is too old and infrastructure cannot be adequately updated.

I'm curious, R6, what infrastructure do you think needs to be updated in the apartment?

OMG! Did you see the back splash in the kitchen? How trashy. HARD PASS.

Beige on beige. What a huge waste of beautiful detail.

Very “Live, Laugh, Love”

Great space, love the location, marred for me by the tacky “30s filtered through the 80s” interior decor.

Being high up and a few blocks from the lake is thrilling. I stayed at the Sofitel a few times with a great view of the lake, and when summer storms roll in across the lake, it’s a breathtaking sight.

The building next to the Sofitel was obviously luxury condos, each one with a little balcony, and it was interesting to see all the beach toys on the balconies. Living in Manhattan, you can’t just walk three miles and go to the beach!

I was watching “Ozark” and in the scene where Marty’s (murdered) accounting partner is showing him office space, you see that same luxury condo tower with the beach toys on the balconies.

^^^ three blocks, not three miles, lol

The staging isn't my style at all (too much like a fancy hotel suite), but obviously that wouldn't stay, and the bones are super classic and elegant. This would be a great space for an art collector. Love the marble and the herringbone floors. I also quite like what they did in the kitchen—it's refreshing to see unique setup like that when they could have gone totally HGTV cookie-cutter.

Personally, I think there are just enough windows for the view and the space. I hate those high-rise apartments with entire walls of windows so that you're basically baking like a dog locked in a car half the day.

I can't imagine this will stay on the market for very long at that price.

I love the write-up: “each spaces exudes gravitas . . .” If there’s anything I demand in a home, it’s “gravitas.”

Without gravitas wouldn’t we just float around in the air? I’m glad the apartment comes with it!!!

When I think of Chicago I just think of the cold. I’ve never lived there though - how much of the year is actually nice weather? Where you could enjoy all that outside space

Not without a paintbrush and a de-beige campaign.

And it will cost a lot to have the penthouse removed to another city.

all that beige is too bland and feminine

R18 I lived in NYC for 22 years and have lived in Chicago the last 14. Maybe it's just me, but I really don't think we have worse winters than the East Coast, particularly in the last 6-7 years. 2014 was a manor exception.

January is always frigid, but that's about it. December is always remarkably mild. February is as lousy as everywhere else that has a winter. We have shorter/colder springs than the EC but longer/warmer autumns. All in all, I think the idea that Chicago is this great unbearable winter of discontent is at best overblown. We're simply not far enough north to warrant that and so close to the Lake that we almost always have next to no snow.

*major exception

The built-ins and mouldings, etc., are not impressive.

Great unit for a great price, furnishings aren’t to my taste but that’s no big deal. It’s the idea of splashing out $3 mil and STILL having to fork over $10k a month in HOA dues. So even were I to pay cash for the place, I still have golden handcuffs on and am responsible for a massive bill every 30 days? No thanks.

For comparison in the same building, the (full) sixth floor unit of 4200sf sold six months ago for just under $2M.

The listing shows an apartment that's been updated more and lost more if it's original design, though I suspect this unit was not designed by David Adler. (The building was designed by Andrew Rebori, but Adler designed the duplex penthouse interiors).

Besides lacking an additional floor and three terraces, the Sixth Floor unit falls shirt of the quality of the penthouse. (Still, I wouldn't turn it down as a gift )

They’ve been trying to sell it since 2019. The price then was $8 million.

It looks like someone went mad with a bulk lot of griege and a spray gun. As R19 says "Not without a paintbrush and a de-beige campaign." It is so colourless. The period details are nice, and with lots of colour to bring them out this place could look a lot more impressive

But $10K a month in HOA fees as well as over $4k in property tax on top of that as R24 points out - that just kills it for me too

R27 I wanted to make a blatant comment about costs but you summed it up. 1500 a month alone you don’t get back.

Wait that 10k is a month? Ouch r27

Well, one thing is for sure: No one who posts on DL can afford the apt.

I thought Peter Thiel posted on DL?

R21, my understanding is that Chicagoans lower to the ground have regular basement flooding. So it might not be that cold, but it’s wet and getting wetter? Obviously not a problem for Tasteful Friends up at the top.

R32 I believe that might be true in the suburbs because they all have sump pumps in their basements, but that's enough to prevent it.

But in the city, most of it was manually jacked up between 4-14 ft above street level in the 19th century, so it's no longer actually at lake level.

R33 That’s a pretty cool concept. In some neighborhoods in Chicago like Pilsen and, I believe, Bridgeport, the streets and sidewalks are several feet above the property line, so if you open a front gate you may walk a couple steps down to the front yard.

R34 Yes! I live in Pilsen and I didn't know the story of why this was until I'd lived here six or seven years. My mind was properly blown.

The entryway made me dizzy at first glance , it needs color on the wall to offset the sharp floor design. The entire house made me feel dizzy with all the moulding, windows crammed into a space that needs Less clutter. Varying shades of cream and beige alongside too many moulding is frankly q disaster. One would go mad after living there a short time and not understand tbe reason why.

[quote] furnishings aren’t to my taste but that’s no big deal

Whew.

whew...i got dizzy too. so many pictures but I notice there was only 1 pic of the bathroom and it was small!!! NOT IMPRESSED

Too bad they painted all the wood paneling and trim.

[quote]Varying shades of cream and beige alongside too many moulding is frankly q disaster. One would go mad after living there a short time and not understand tbe reason why.

Some of you bitches are unacquainted with the miracle product paint? It comes in so many colors and finishes.

And others seemed disposed to bouts of sudden and extreme dizziness.

I would hate being so high in the sky. It would be better if the building only had a few floors.

It’s a deluxe apartment in the sky.

Nate Berkus had a condo in this building during his Chicago years (90's -00).

Are you kidding me with that kitchen?

OMG 😍😍

Yes please.

[quote]But $10K a month in HOA fees as well as over $4k in property tax on top of that as [R24] points out - that just kills it for me too

I always wonder who has places like these. $14K * 12 = $168K. I would think a place like this would require at least $2K a month in upkeep (cleaning service, utilities, maybe a cook). So $192,000 a year to just keep the place up - more than 2.5 times the median household income in the US.

Plus of course the $3 million to actually buy the place.

[quote] I would hate being so high in the sky. It would be better if the building only had a few floors.

It's a high rise. That's the point of living in a high rise.

Yes, r46, but it would be better if the building weren’t a high rise and had only a few floors instead.

R47 It also wouldn't have the view.

R47 must be the same person who was complaining that Lake Michigan is not salty.

R48, there are some buildings that used to have a view, until larger buildings were built between them and the view. It’s not something you can count on.

What is the downside of living high in the sky? Are you afraid of heights?

I once lived in a penthouse (building was about 10 stories) in Asbury Park NJ and a gentleman caller (okay, whore) said he would be afraid to live there because terrorists would fly a plane into it