Tasteful Friends: Chicago Astor Street Home

Chicago has a lovely blog called Crib Chatter which has some good tidbits on this one

It looks a little 'over styled' for my taste. But, the bones are reasonable enough. The handrail on the stair needs a re-think.

Seems a bit too 80s

R3 - 80's??? Do you mean art deco, which was revived in the 80's? I don't see any 80's decor anywhere.

Overall, there's not enough wow factor for $11 million.

Meh...incredibly underwhelming for the price tag.

I wanted to love it. I was prepared to love it. But the greige. So much greige.

I don't see any Art Deco anywhere either. The interior could be from any nondescript high-end remodel. Depressing.

I actually kind of like it. Especially the outdoor access from various rooms and the ginormous windows. Looks like it used to be a building for public use; offices or museum? Would I pay $11m? No, but it's really quite lovely.

The best thing about the house is the name of the street.

The crass decor can be best described as "hip Iranian".

The Cardinal lives next door (to the right in photos of the exterior). The grounds around the Cardinal's mansion look like a park, which is why so much of the house and its terrace is oriented to the side.

Property taxes $80k year, yikes!

Ghastly.

The quality of it seems good. Seems like it would be quiet inside, no sounds traveling from room to room.

However, the bathrooms are *ugly* and would need to be renovated. All of them.

The knotty pine room looks ugly as well.

Also don't like the swirly wrought-iron staircase banisters.

Knotty pine room is hideous. Maybe it would work if this were a cottage?

Also - $11M and no elevator?

Ugh, the boytouchers are next door.

toilet mist on the towels.

Very nice and one of the best streets in Chicago

@r3, "Seems a bit too 80s "

Oh, honey, no...

My goodness, that is a lot of ugly for $11M. The bannister and bathroom fixtures are awful, and just thinking about all the work it would take to get rid of the Yipes Stripes situation on the walls exhausts me.

Some of the photos are bizarre, like the blurry one of either a silver tureen or an urn, forgotten in a corner.

I think the bleached? pickled? knotty pine is fresh. That’s a handsome room.

Maybe 80s was not quite accurate, but for something that took five years to renovate, it still reeks of dated views.

Obviously one wouldn't want HGTV trendy nonsense in a place like this, or expect it at this scope/budget, but just felt they made some very unattractive choices.

I agree that has a lot of the same elements you'd see in the 80s art deco revival, but in greige instead of pastels and neon. The silver and the stripes are part of that, so is the electric blue squiggle rug and the big lithograph of a set of lips.

It's really not outrageous to say it looks "too 80s," you all know exactly what r3 meant.

I think the apartment decor does give off an '80s vibe (the black marble, cold surfaces) without being really '80s.

R20, that tureen is also too tall to be placed on that counter. It won't slide under the cabinet, either (too tall).

The bathtub looks like a sarcophagus....just no.

Some of those fixtures seem like they were never in style.

It's boutique hotel 1998 to be precise. Yes, Art Deco references. Mid-eastern or Far eastern fashion person and in that context, I like it. Good mis-en-scene for an "ageless" late middle age lady or gentleman.

There is also something vaguely "heimat" about it - some Hofmann or Loos aspirational, and could see this in Hamburg, Munich or Vienna.

I don't understand why R17 should get eaten by wolves.

R17 isn't wrong about the location. Astor Street is very old school Chicago.

A lot of shiny surfaces, like you could just slide around the house all day.

Owned by the Marks family - Greeks with money. 'Nuff said.

Who are the Marks family?

If one were thinking of moving to Chicago, where would be a good area? Is Boystown the place to be?

Everything depends on where you work, R34, and it’s a car culture - a stinky, angry, bullshit commute each way. You’re locked in or out on Cubs game days If you live in Wrigleyville or Lakeview.

This was built in 1969, but blends in very well with the older building next to it. The old marble gives me flashbacks to the older offices on Jackson and a few of the museums prior to modernization. I’m expecting a foot bar on the bottom and that’s adorable.

The bench near the telescope would be perfect anywhere (bonus points for no visible “H” on any of the throws, btw).

I’d consider killing your mom for those art chairs in the dining room, the rattan-looking chaise, and any of the Biedermeier interpretations - Though the office chairs hit your neck wrong if their not the right height.

“ their” s/b “they’re”

And the foot bar I’m talking about belongs to the old marble sinks.

Sorry

Hate it, no warmth, Looks like a generic lux hotel, could be anywhere.

Hideous.

Like all Chicago residential buildings of a certain age and pose.

Boystown used to be the in neighborhood for young gay men but it hasn't been for at least 15 years.

First the stroller moms invaded, and then a lot of thieves, whores and drug addicts, and now it's unlivable.

If you want a safe-ish gayborhood Andersonville is great, though a far ride from the city. West Loop and Oak Park (border burb) are trendy for older gays, but both expensive. Many younger gays aren't ghettoed in their own neighborhood and live in Wicker Park or Logan Square, which is where the trendy youth hipsters live.

Rubes, almost all of you.

This is near 1st St. Paul’s on Goethe! The church looks like a steel mill, the paster dropped Beckett and Inge references as if anyone cared, but the choir was fabulous and everyone could sight-read music.

Is a paster someone who pastes?

I have never before seen a floor plan that indicates the location of the cappuccino machine.

That place is Democratic hell hole I’d never live there!

Knotty Pine is 50s suburbia basement nostalgia. One good storm and this basement, a block from the lake, floods.

Hell they probably didn't even design the koi pond, it probably showed up one day and ran with it.

It's simply dreadful.

I believe Irna Phillips lived on N. Astor in Chicago.

A lot of of soaps came out of her apartment.

apparently, she was at 1335 N Astor

So, you have to walk from your bedroom through the dining room to get to the bathroom? Awkward.