Historic Schweppe Mansion In Lake Forest Sells For $5 Million

LAKE FOREST, IL — One of the largest and most historic lakefront estates on the North Shore sold last month for less than 28 percent of the price its sellers asked when it was first listed 13 years ago. The architecturally significant mansion has been rumored to be the site of supernatural activity.

Mayflower Place, also known as the Schweppe Mansion, was purchased for just $5 million in a deal finalized Aug. 28. The closing price was $13 million lower than its initial asking price when it hit the market in July 2007.

The home was built in 1917 as a wedding present for Laura Shedd and Charles Schweppe from Shedd's father, Chicago aquarium namesake and Marshall Field & Co. President John G. Shedd, according to reports from the time. In its heyday, it was said to have entertained visiting English and Swedish royalty in the 1920s and 30s.

Designed by Frederick Wainwright Perkins, of Perkins & Will, the 28-room, 24,500-square-foot brick and concrete Tudor- and Georgian-style mansion sits on a 5.4-acre portion of what was once a far larger estate. It features 425 feet of private beach, 12 bedrooms and 11 fireplaces, according to its listing.

Laura Schweppe née Shedd died of a heart attack in 1937 at the age of 58, leaving $200,000 of her $10 million fortune to her husband and most to her children, according to published reports. When Charles Schweppe died by suicide four years later at age 60, he was found with an unsigned note that said, "I've been awake all night. It's terrible."

For the next 45 years, the house remained empty. Local legend has it that Schweppe ordered his heirs to keep the home vacant for that period after his death, although the Chicago Tribune obtained a copy of his will that did not contain such a requirement. Other rumors include an unusual footprint in a concrete room and a window pane said to have been kept clean through ethereal means. The late Oak Lawn ghost-hunter Richard Crowe reportedly did not detect any poltergeist at the home.

A son-in-law of Charles Schweppe sold the home for $5.5 million in 1987 to Howard Hoeper, a former plastics baron, and his late ex-wife Donna Denton. The couple oversaw a meticulous renovation and restoration of the property involving 70 European artists and craftspeople over more than a year, according to its listing.

But the couple divorced less than two years after buying the home, and the 15-acre property was split. Denton kept the house and Hoeper got a neighboring 10-acre parcel, where he lived for a time in a recently constructed mansion next door, according to news reports. After spending an unspecified amount on the renovations, Denton, who died in 2011, first listed the house in the early 1990s but opted to stay.

Denton put the home back on the market in 2007 with an $18 million price tag. Before anyone could buy it, ownership of the home was transferred to First Bank & Trust after she defaulted on a $9 million mortgage, records show.

In July 2019, the price was reduced by a half-million dollars to just under $8.5 million, and in July 2020 an offer was accepted.

Realtor Ann Lyons, who received a nearly $180,500 commission for brokering the deal, has not responded to a request for comment. Its latest buyers, who purchased the home through a trust that conceals its owners' identity, have not been identified in public records.

According to a 2019 appraisal, the market value of the home was $7.45 million. The property was described as in generally good condition but required an estimated $100,000 to $200,000 in repairs, mostly to ceilings and walls. Its annual property tax bill is about $140,000.

• Address: 405 N Mayflower Rd, Lake Forest, Illinois
• Sales Price: $5 million
• Square Feet: 24,500
• Bedrooms: 10
• Bathrooms: 11 full, 4 half
• Built: 1917

Listing information originally appeared on realtor.com, find more recently sold homes in Lake Forest »