Winnetka Estate Expanded, Renovated With Architectural Artifacts

WINNETKA, IL — This 94-year-old mansion and coach house on 1.8 acres beside the Indian Hill Country Club saw its price reduced Wednesday to under $4.3 million. That's just over half of the asking price at which its current owners first listed the property more than 5 1/2 years ago.

The home at 5 Indian Hill Drive was originally known as "Wynwyd Estate" and designed in 1922 by California architect Reginald D. Johnson as an Italian-style villa for its first owner, Thomas H. McInerney, according to the Winnetka Historical Society and a brochure from the home's listing agent.

The country club-adjacent estate is "actually in the country – yet just three blocks from Indian Hill Station," according to a 1935 listing for the home.

"There can be nothing finer offered in Seclusion – Beauty – Convenience," it promised.

Around 1950, it was purchased by Nuveen Investments founder John Nuveen, chief of the Marshall Plan during the Truman administration, and his wife Grace, who continued to live in the home after his death in 1968.

The six-bedroom mansion today includes 12,000 square feet of living space and a recently remodeled master suite. It's got a DeGuilio chef's kitchen, large rooms for entertaining as well as cozy family rooms, according to its listing, which describes the home as the "ultimate oasis." The three-story brick home has seven full and three half-bathrooms, a screened porch and eight interior fireplaces.

» Click on any photo for more images of the "Wynwyd Estate" at 5 Indian Hill Rd.

There're indoor and outdoor pools, a pool house, guest house, a 33-foot sport court, paneled libraries, a six-car garage and gardens.

Plus, a wet bar in the home was once owned by the late actor John Candy and used on the set of "Only the Lonely" and the 1,500-bottle wine cellar includes doors from the iconic Rookery building in Chicago.

The home was last sold in June 1999 for about $2.5 million to Daniel Gill, the founder of a private equity firm based in Evanston and son of the former CEO of Bausch + Lomb, and his wife Debra. After expanding, restoring and adding to the property, they listed it in 2012 for $8 million.

Over the next several years, the price was reduced to just under $5 million by 2016, the year the couple sought to subdivide the property into a pair of lots and sell them both.

Neighbors resisted the plan, fearing the subdivision could allow a new "McMansion" to be built beside their lots and suggesting the only reason to subdivide it would be to maximize the return for its owners, Pioneer Press reported.

Winnetka's zoning board and plan commission both recommended against the project, and a divided Village Council ended up rejecting the application in September 2016.

Since then, the asking price has been reduced twice more. It dropped down to below $4.3 million on May 2.

The estimated 2018 market value of the property is $5,367,940, according to the Cook County assessor's office.

» More images of the "Wynwyd Estate" at 5 Indian Hill Rd. available from its Realtor.com listing

• Address: 5 Indian Hill Rd, Winnetka, Illinois
• Price: $4,295,000
• Square Feet: 15,000
• Bedrooms: 6
• Bathrooms: 7 full, 3 half
• Built: 1922
• Listed: 2012
• Last Price Reduction: May 2

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