Demolition Begins On $10 Million, 114-Year-Old Lakefront Mansion

WINNETKA, IL — Demolition has begun on the lakefront Frank O. Magie Mansion, as the Winnetka couple that purchased the property for $10 million earlier this year plans to replace it with a new home at a cost of at minimum $5.4 million, Crain's Chicago Business reported. Built in 1904, the home sits on nearly 3 acres at 735 Sheridan Road beside Maple Street Park and includes about 160 feet of private Lake Michigan beach, as well as a pool added later and set at a lower level amid a large grassy backyard.

It was designed by architect Joseph Llewellyn, creator of high schools in Highland Park and Lyons Township and responsible for the remodeling of Horace Mann School in Chicago, and built for Florence and Frank Ogden Magie, the founder of the Magie Brothers Oil Company. Magie died in 1919 at the age of 56, according to a historical architectural impact study (below) prepared for the property.

After the Magies, the mansion was owned in the 1920s by a Chicago lawyer and then a second-generation partner at a global engineering firm until the 1950s, when the property was purchased by John Gleason. Gleason was a leading candidate for the Democratic nomination for Illinois governor in 1960 and, at age 46, appointed by President John Kennedy to chair the Veterans Administration. He later chaired two Chicago banks, pleaded guilty to bank fraud, went to prison and became a Catholic deacon upon his release.

The new owners are Philip and Janice Beck. Mr. Beck is an attorney with the firm Bartlit Beck Herman Palenchar & Scott and best known for heading up former President George W. Bush's trial team in litigation that ended a recount in Florida and "ultimately determined the 2000 presidential election." Among the Becks' philanthropic activities, they donated a mobile spay and neutering clinic to PAWS Chicago. The Becks purchased the home from Len and Gaye Wislow, who bought the house for $3.175 million in 1993. They first listed it for sale in August 2016 asking for nearly $16 million. Mr. Wislow is the retired CEO of a staffing firm he ran with his late father and sold in 2013.

Realtor Jena Radnay said the home was "timeless and impossible to replicate" in the home's listing, calling it "one of the most memorable houses on Sheridan Road today." According to a historical architectural impact study prepared for Winnetka's Landmark Preservation Commission, the 114-year-old Colonial-style home had both local and statewide architectural significance but was not a national, state or local designated landmark. The demolition application first submitted in October 2017 said the existing coach house and pool houses would remain intact.

More photos, history from the Landmark Preservation Commission's Historical Architectural Impact Study of 735 Sheridan Road:

Earlier: $10 Million Teardown Awaits Winnetka Demolition Permit

• Address: 735 Sheridan Road, Winnetka
• Last Sold: $10 million
• Lot: 2.7 acres
• Built: 1905

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