Kooky Design House

I hope I'm not boring you all with house posts:/ What can I say...The Pioneer Woman walks out her door and sees cows, I walk out my door and see buildings, buildings, and more buildings...

I moved to the city as a broke design student. Those were some of the most exciting, ridiculous, wonderful memories. In school, I was friends with a kooky girl with the same fashion design dreams as my own...Wendy.

She rented a room, in a house that had been broken up into separate units...This amazing house, had about 20 rooms that had been converted to rentals. See the top windows in the circle tower? That was Wendy's room. She had this HUGE leather couch crammed into the circle...It was the tiniest room, but it had the most amazing view of the lake, and the city...Seriously, look at how close the city is from the house...(this is prime Gold Coast) I always wondered how such a spectacular house, in such an A-list location, falls into such disrepair that it becomes rentals for students?

I would walk in the front door, and it opened into the most amazing wooded cascading staircase (think Gone With the Wind). At the same time, it was incredibly spooky. I hated to visit Wendy at night, because the common areas (entry hall, stairway, hallways) never had electricity. This house was dark, brooding, and ominous at night. Street kids would climb up on the roof in back, to drink beer and party into the wee hours. It was scary, strange and beautiful all wrapped into one...Somewhere in the 90's real estate boom, the richest fat cat bought the house. It boggles my mind that one family now lives in this enormous house! (Truth be told, I think I know who the owner is...and their kiddos are out of college...so it's just TWO people living there!) This is easily 12,000 square feet:o

I run past the house every other day, and my mind always takes me back to my kooky design friend, and all the nights I ran up the dark wooded staircase to Wendy's tiny room with the view. I so wish I had taken pictures of the interior of the house (Lord knows, I'll never get the chance now) In many ways, I'm happy for the house that has now been rehabbed to within an inch of it's existence...and yet in some ways, I miss the kooky place that housed all the artsy fartsy types with no business living in The Gold Coast...

17 comments

  1. Oh man. See you just have to get in there. This is where I would just knock on the door & ask the butler for a tour. Beautiful. Your description is as good as a photo. I love houses.

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  2. I definitely like your posts about houses in your area. The houses where you live are so different to over here in Brisbane, Australia.

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  3. Very cool house. I would love to see the inside as well. At least you have wonderful memories. I wonder if the current owners would be interested in them?

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  4. I can't believe that was a rental. I drove by that house everyday for 5 years on may way yo work and always assumed some eccentric rich guy owned it and probably had tripped out the inside all modern and kooky...makes me a little happy on the inside to know that at one time struggling artsy students used to live there. How awesome! Thanks for sharing!

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  5. I'm digging the house posts and, of course, dig that house. What's not to love?

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  6. Love this post. It makes me want to visit Chicago all the more!! Fancy a house guest or two or three . . . ?

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  7. I love the house posts! Whenever I'm in Boston, I drive by the same nieghborhood just looking around. I need to get there during the day and take the girls for a walk. It's a blast to look and imagine!

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  8. I love your house posts.

    The best part of that place having been student housing is that a lot of people were able to enjoy it and it's eccentricities. It almost seems selfish for a couple to be the only ones who get to enjoy it now!

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  9. Boring, no!! This is probably one of my favorite posts that you've written. I LOVED it!

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  10. I'm afraid of the dark, but that house still looks awesome and that apartment, still tempting. I would much rather live in a small apartment in the city than a house in the suburbs - if I didn't have kids, that is ;-)

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  11. It took me a minute to place the house in the photo. My college roommate's parents live in the same neighborhood. Like you, I like to walk around and look at the gorgeous houses.

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  12. What a fun post!
    A friend of mine lived in a similar in Milwaukee when she was in college. She lived up in the attic portion. It was really spookey, and yet there was something romantic about it too. I love those beautiful, old houses. :)

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  13. Wow! It looks like a castle in the city. What an beautiful, yet intriguing place :)

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  14. Hi Cynthia, thank you so much for the info. Btw, please please don't get angry because I copy the link where you host the images... thank u in advance..
    btw, this is a cute post. :) That house or should i say castle is really really awesome! Hope I can see that someday :D

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  15. I love those big old houses. We've got a lot of those here in Baltimore. It's heartbreaking when they fall into disrepair.

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  16. I love the house posts... they are interesting. I wish I could go in and snap artsy photos at every location.

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