Historic Lake Forest 'Wyldewoode' Estate Listed For $15 Million

LAKE FOREST, IL — A historic lakefront mansion built for a steel tycoon more than a century ago and meticulously maintained became the priciest home listing of the suburbs when it was listed Monday. Designed by Harrie T. Lindeberg for Clyde Carr of Ryerson Steel and his wife Lillian and completed in 1916, the "Wyldwoode" estate would become the most expensive home sale in Lake Forest history were it to sell for its $15 million asking price.

A lengthy driveway that snakes through the woods leads to the Norman-style mansion through a wrought iron arch with a suspended coach lamp. In addition to the 13,353-square-foot, eight-bedroom main home, the nearly 9-acre grounds include a guest house attached by a breezeway, a Georgian pool house with a recently restored pool and spa surrounded by blue stone and a wrought iron fence on the northwest side of the home.

The mansion's "Y"-shaped design provides lake views from every room of its east side, views of its wooded grounds to the south and adds to the privacy of the property, according to the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation. Lindeberg was a New York-based architect who also designed several other Lake Forest structures between 1910 and the Great Depression, including the clubhouse at the Onwentsia Club.

Along with landscape architect Warren Manning, they added to the privacy of the site by placed the drive at an angle and surrounded it with greenery. Among the home's most distinctive features is metalwork by Oscar Bruno Bach. A bronze front door designed by the renowned German-born craftsman includes zodiac symbols and depictions of local wildlife from which the estate took its name, according to its listing.

The first floor also includes an "oval office", a dining room with a barrel plaster ceiling, hand-painted vanity room, a powder room with pink Italian onyx and Venetian glass. There's a gallery extending the length of the house from the entrance through the stair hall and living room to a glassed-in loggia. The living room has a marble ox blood mantel fireplace, one of 12 in the 18-room home.

The second floor includes marble-lined bathrooms, a "Romeo and Juliet" balcony, plus a master suite with a sitting room, bedroom, two bathrooms and a windows overlooking a reflecting pool. A high staircase to the third floor includes a "secret door" leading to an unfinished "train room" for model railroad enthusiasts.

The third floor has two smaller bedrooms and a media room, plus a "high frontier bar" currently decorated with a space age design, according to the listing. There's also a full fourth floor attic and a fifth floor storage space. Other features include a darkroom, a machine shop and a tiled basement wine cellar.

Owners Barbara and Barry Carroll, who purchased the home for an undisclosed sum in 1987, were awarded the 2014 Preservation Award from the Lake Forest Preservation Foundation for the restoration of a timber-framed balcony on the east side of the home. They were also honored with the 2009 edition of the award for the rehabilitation of the decorative metal archway over the entrance to the home's driveway. Barry's father Wallace founded Katy Industries in 1968 after starting out in the gauge business in Illinois in the 1940s. The holding company subsequently grew to become a leading cleaning and storage products manufacturer, according to bankruptcy filings from earlier this year.

Speaking to the foundation, Barbara said the couple had been on their way to an estate sale in Lake Forest but everything had been picked over.

"I was so disappointed there seemed to be nothing of interest, except for one item, I loved the house!" she said.

"The foliage creates an oasis," Barry said. "You are aware of the city around you, but you're surrounded by natural beauty and privacy."

The home has been subdivided into three lots – a primary property of more than 5 acres, plus a 1-acre and 0.5-acre lot – where two new homes could be built. According to the Lake County assessor's office, the property's current market value is almost $5.8 million, and its tax bill totals nearly $100,000.

Since 2008, only one home has sold for more than $10 million in Lake Forest: a $12 million sale in February of an 18,300-square-foot house on Lake Michigan, which was sold from one real estate shell corporation to another and discovered by Crain's reporter Dennis Rodkin in the files of the Lake County Recorder of Deeds.

The only existing home listed for a higher price in the area is in Chicago's Lincoln Park, where a property at 1932 N. Burling St. is asking for an attention-seeking sum of $50 million.

More images of 'Wyldwoode' at 55 N. Mayflower Road »

• Address: 55 N Mayflower Rd, Lake Forest, Illinois
• Price: $15 million
• Square Feet: 13,353
• Bedrooms: 8
• Bathrooms: 6 full, 2 half
• Built: 1900
• Last Sold: 1987
• Listed: July 9

This listing originally appeared on realtor.com. For more information and photos, click here.