Restored Historic Mansion Asks $9.9M in Winnetka

A historic home in Winnetka hit the market Friday at an asking price of $9.9 million, making it the North Shore town’s priciest listing off the lakefront.

The owner of the five-bedroom, seven-bathroom home, Greta Cacciatore, spent over a year meticulously restoring and rehabilitating the home to its former glory with a modern twist, said Jena Radnay of @properties Christie’s International Real Estate.

The red-brick Tudor Revival-style home at 140 Sheridan Road spans about 12,000 square feet for a list price of about $825 per square foot. It sits on just over an acre with 4,000 square feet of what Radnay called “buildable space perfect for a coach house or a garage.”

The home is listed on an agents-only site and is set to be listed publicly soon.

It was previously reported that the home would hit the market in February at $11 million with Ryan Preuett of Jameson Sotheby’s International Realty as its listing agent. Preuett could not immediately be reached for comment Friday.

“Sellers have the right to figure out who they want to list with, and our seller was talking to a few different people to figure that out,” Radnay said.

Cacciatore — whose husband, Joe Cacciatore, is the owner and CEO of Chicago’s Jos. Cacciatore & Company Real Estate — ultimately went with Radnay.

Radnay recently put a nearby mansion at 419 Sheridan Road in Winnetka under contract with a list price of $35 million. If closed at that price, the deal would shatter Chicago’s record for priciest home sale. She said her experience selling that home left her better prepared to price and sell Cacciatore’s home because they were both built in 1928 and designed by famous British architect Mayo & Mayo, meaning they have “some of the same architecturally significant details.”

This, combined with a strong start to luxury on the North Shore this year, made her confident in the ask price of $9.9 million, Radnay said.

Winnetka recorded 99 sales of $4 million or more last year, trailing just behind the 2022 peak of 136. The trend has continued into this year, with several multimillion-dollar homes having already sold.

A home on Westmoor Trail sold on Jan. 8 for just over $4.67 million, or $667 per square foot. About a week later, the “Home Alone” house, at 671 Lincoln Avenue, sold for $5.5 million. That iconic home traded hands for just under $1,080 per square foot, about 4.7 percent above the seller’s asking price of $1,030 per square foot.

Cacciatore’s home on Sheridan Road is known as the Felix Lowy house after the Chicago advertising executive who commissioned it. Lowy only lived in the home for about a decade, according to the Winnetka Historical Society.

Cacciatore, who is an expert in European architectural design, spent the last seventeen months restoring the property. The landscaping was updated with over 300 boxwoods, restoring the property’s English garden aesthetic. Beyond the garden, the property features a cabana house and olympic-sized swimming pool, according to listing information.