Liz Phair's Childhood Home Sold In Winnetka

WINNETKA, IL —The former home of indie rock legend Liz Phair was sold for the first time in more than 40 years, as her parents parted ways with her childhood home in Winnetka last month.

The four-bedroom home was built in 1915. It includes a former dining room, a living room with a wood-burning fireplace, a private study, an unfinished basement and a large deck. It was listed in February, went under contract a few days later, and closed at its asking price of $625,000 on May 13.

Phair's debut album, 1993's landmark "Exile in Guyville," was recorded while she lived in the Ash Street home after moving back in with her parents and recording demos on cassettes under the moniker "Girly-Sound" in her childhood bedroom.

Phair, 52, returned to the North Shore in 1990 after graduating New Trier High School and Oberlin College and briefly living in New York City and San Francisco, according to a profile on the 25th anniversary of the release of "Guyville," which Rolling Stone ranked No. 327 on its list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.

Phair's parents purchased their Winnetka home for $107,000 in August 1976 after the musician's father, a leading AIDS researcher and emeritus physician with Northwestern Medicine, quit a job in Cincinnati to come to the North Shore, according to Crain's Chicago Business, which first reported the sale. Phair was 9 years old at the time.

The estimated 2018 market value of the property was $754,780, according to the Cook County Assessor's Office. It annual property tax bill is more than $16,000.

According to property records, the buyers are Priscilla and Chris Swenson, who sold another Winnetka home about a mile away from the former Phair property for about $1.25 million just over a year ago.

• Address: 638 Ash St., Winnetka
• Built: 1915
• Listed: $625,000 on Feb. 1, offer received Feb. 4
• Sale Price: $625,000 on May 10
• Square Feet: 2,303
• Lot Size: 0.16 acres
• Bedrooms: 4
• Bathrooms: 2 full, 1 half

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