A one-bedroom, 2,730-square-foot mid-century cedar wood house in Highland Park that was designed by architect Roy Binkley sold Feb. 15 for $630,000.
The Chicago-based Binkley, who died in 1994, studied under Ludwig Mies van der Rohe and later worked in the office of architect Paul Schweikher. Binkley designed homes in several North Shore communities, and he also designed a church building in Mackinaw City, Mich.
Built in 1960 and set on a heavily wooded, 0.96-acre property across the street from the Berkeley Prairie Forest Preserve, the Highland Park house has floor-to-ceiling windows, 1-1/2 bathrooms, bluestone floors, oak floors and a full basement.
Listing agent Jon Gerstein of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate told Elite Street that the house reflects its wooded setting with an exposed wood interior that recalls certain TV and film productions of the late 1960s and 1970s.
“It kind of felt like ‘The Brady Bunch’ meets ‘A Clockwork Orange,’” he said. “And there’s this awesome floating staircase and a little indoor moat that doesn’t have water but instead has a garden. It makes you feel like you’re in the film ‘Moonraker.’ And it’s an unusual home in that it has one bedroom but two levels and a full basement. The second level overlooks the first level.”
The house also has fireplaces on both levels, a basement workshop, two separate HVAC systems and a new elastomeric roof with skylights that were installed in 2021. Outside are a five-car garage, a clay tennis court and a tennis shed with a shower.
The house first was listed in December for $650,000, and it sold two months later. Gerstein said the buyer appreciates mid-century modern architecture and plans to keep the home intact.
“It’s the ideal fit,” he said.
The house had a $25,227 property tax bill in the 2022 tax year.
Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
