A six-bedroom, 5,208-square-foot Colonial Revival-style house in Wheaton that was designed by architect Jarvis Hunt and built as a summer cottage for those who were part of the nearby Chicago Golf Club has been listed for $1.875 million.
Built in 1896 and 1897, the home was developed by the Rev. James Wheaton, who was part of his namesake city’s founding family, as a way to provide summer rental housing for members of Chicago Golf, which had relocated to Wheaton in 1895. Its early inhabitants included Chicago Golf member Charles“Harry” Wilmerding, who was head of the Chicago Arc Light and Power Co., Chicago Golf member, railroad attorney and onetime congressional candidate George Willits, and DuPage County Judge Mazzini Slusser, according to news accounts. The house was owned from 1935 until 1947 by Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine professor Theodore Boyd and his wife, painter Helen Walker Boyd.
Located in a historic enclave that contains other homes also designed by Hunt, the house has been overhauled and expanded by current owners Scott and Mary Beth Kilrea, and now has 5-1/2 bathrooms, five fireplaces, a paneled office and a heated garage with a garage elevator that allows for the storage of fully four vehicles. Outside on the 0.43-acre property are a bluestone terrace and a fire pit.
The couple bought the mansion in 1992 and constructed a matching, two-level detached garage in 2008.
“I’m inspired to see a home with such local historical significance so passionately reimagined and updated,” said listing agent Mark Plunkett of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate. “The Kilreas have been wonderful stewards.”
Plunkett said the couple are selling because they are empty-nesters and feel it’s time “for a new family to write the next chapter in this storied home.” He added that they have said that leaving the house “will be bittersweet.”
The couple first listed the house April 24.
The mansion had a $24,515 property tax bill in the 2023 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
