$12.7 Million Mansion's Owners Raze $2.15 Million House Next Door

WINNETKA, IL — A Sheridan Road mansion that sold two years ago for $2.15 million was recently leveled in order to expand a neighboring mansion's front yard and add an improved driveway. Victoria and Dmitry Godin purchased the first of the two Winnetka properties in July 2013, paying a record $12.7 million for the 15,000-square-foot lakefront mansion at 319 Sheridan Road, property records show.

Then in August 2017, they purchased the adjacent house at 321 Sheridan Road for $2.15 million with a goal of consolidating the two lots to create a nearly 2-acre parcel, according to a memo to village staff from their design consultants.

"That goal is to create an open estate entry from Sheridan Road," the memo said. The demolition of the smaller house allows the property owners to close the two existing driveways and replace them with a new, more central one.

Winnetka granted final approval for the consolidation in January and issued a demolition permit for the property on June 13, according to village records and staff.

The two parcels the Godins purchased were created in a 1990 subdivision by Leo and Milena Birov of Heritage Luxury Homes, the previous owners of the larger mansion. The Godins' purchase of the house was the most expensive in village history, Chicago Magazine reported. At the time, Milena Birov described the 2007-built home as "the best we ever built."

The seven-bedroom stone French Provincial-style mansion includes 17 rooms, an elevator, home theater, two wet bars, wine cellar, large pool and 137 feet of private beach, according to an earlier listing.

After its purchase, the Godins built a new boathouse on Lake Michigan and an underground tunnel connecting it to their basement, according to their consultants.

The smaller, but still sizable, 7,900-square-foot home was built in 1992 on the subdivided lot. The Godins purchased it from Laurence and Susanne Organ, according to property records. Crain's reported it had been listed publicly for just one day.

The demolished 27-year-old house "should never have been built," Mr. Godin told the Chicago Tribune, which first reported the demolition was complete.

Godin grew up in Skokie and graduated from Niles North High School after immigrating from Ukraine at 9 years old. He grew the retail mortgage brokerage he founded after graduating from DePaul University into one of the nation's largest home lenders. His company, Lincolnshire-based InterFirst Mortgage, employed about 500 people before he decided to shut it down in 2017, according to Crain's Chicago Business.

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