On a daily basis The Wall Street Journal highlights a home in this great country of ours. The House of the Day is produced by Wall Street Journal editors and reporters reviewing listings across the country and interviewing homeowners. Homes are chosen for their design, market or storyline. Last year, a property snapped by VHT Studios’ Gene Schnar was even honored as House of the Year.
The Wall Street Jounral has once again bestowed on VHT the honor of House of the Day. This late-1800s home in Chicago’s Gold Coast, wrapped in greenery and flanked by tour-worthy gardens, is listed for nearly $10 million. It was photographed last year by VHT Studios Photographer Marty Konopacki for Prudential Rubloff Properties.
Let’s take a look, shall we?
The owner, Sandy Shelton, moved to this home on the Near North Side of Chicago in 1993, after meeting her late husband, John C. Shelton. She was living in a nearby condo when she made small talk one day with Mr. Shelton, who invited her to visit his home and gardens. She turned him down, she said, but later she warmed up to him. They lived together in this home until Mr. Shelton’s death in 2000.
Built around 1896, the roughly 35-room mansion spans about 10,000 square feet. The living room is shown. What made the home special for Mr. Shelton, she said, was the ample space for gardening. The home features a four-tier deck filled with plantings, as well as a rooftop terrace and gardens. ‘He just loved flowers,’ she said.
Mrs. Shelton is also passionate about the home’s greenery. She is especially fond of the ivy that climbs along the home’s brick facade. ‘It feels like someone has their arms around me when I’m in the house,’ she said. The couple married in 1993 in the living room of this home.
Mr. Shelton’s Art Deco-style kitchen is shown. Mrs. Shelton says she isn’t fond of it, but she left it alone for Mr. Shelton’s sake.
Mrs. Shelton recalls dancing with her husband in the living room.
This sitting room includes stained-glass panels salvaged from the ballroom, she said. She is selling because the home is ‘getting to be too much for me to handle,’ she said, and she is planning to move to Santa Barbara, Calif.
Mrs. Shelton hopes a part of their legacy will stay with the home after the sale. She buried in the gardens a time capsule, wrapped in a red ribbon, that includes some of the couple’s wedding photos and miscellaneous notes. Among the treasured bits: the story of how they met, and a number of Mr. Shelton’s pick-up lines, she said, laughing. An outdoor sitting area is shown.
In the rear of the home is a large paved garden area, with a koi pond, shown here, and several plantings. The home is locally renowned for its garden spaces, Mrs. Shelton says, and she opens it once a year to tour groups interested in exploring the gardens of some noted Gold Coast homes.
Via The Wall Street Journal