‘Urban sanctuary’: For $3.99M, North Side home packs a big punch into a city lot — plus no snow shoveling

CHICAGO — At the corner of West Rosehill Drive and North Ravenswood Avenue in Andersonville, right across from historic Rosehill Cemetery, sits a home that uses every available inch of its North Side city lot.

To get what you want into a space like that, you’ve got to build up, not out.

That’s exactly what the owner of 1775 W. Rosehill Dr. has done, creating a home that’s now for sale.

By creatively using three floors, plus a partial basement, the owner has managed to pack in a ton of amenities more commonly seen within a sprawling suburban property, not within a city lot.

According to its Zillow listing , the property’s lot size is a little under 7,000 square feet. But there’s nearly 7,600 square feet of living space packed into that, all centered around a large courtyard designed to bring the home as much natural light as possible:

No, there’s not a yard, but the home essentially brings that space inside. With five bedrooms and seven bathrooms (five full, two half), there’s plenty of living space for a family and plenty of spaces to entertain.

“Urban sanctuary,” is how the property’s listing agent, Morgan McDermott of Coldwell Banker Real Estate Group, describes it.

And there’s another unique feature: No snow removal.

That’s because the property features a state-of-the-art geothermal snowmelt system that heats up the walkways around the property and the courtyard inside it, melting the snow right off.

Of course, it won’t be cheap to own this “urban sanctuary” on Chicago’s North Side — and retire your snow shovel in the process.

The current listing price on Zillow is $3.99 million. That’s an estimated monthly payment of $28,540, of which about $7,700 goes to property taxes and insurance.

The property has been listed at that price since coming on the market in late October.

And while modern amenities, high-tech features and location account for the property’s high price tag, it also merges all of that with a little piece of Chicago history.

Home to tombstones

Most of the home now at 1775 W. Rosehill Dr. is ultra-modern since it was built in 2020.

But a piece of it is very old.

As mentioned, the property is across from Rosehill Cemetery, which at 350 acres and founded in 1859 makes it Chicago’s largest and oldest cemetery.

So it would be logical for someone making and selling tombstones to move in nearby.

That was exactly what the property was used for when it was home to the Anderson Monument Company, a tombstone manufacturing facility and showroom, more than 100 years ago.

The Anderson name is prominent in Andersonville, which is a “sub-neighborhood” of the larger Edgewater neighborhood. According to a National Geographic piece from 2023, Andersonville was originally a Swedish settlement, named after the Anderson family, who arrived there in the 1800s.

Though McDermott says the property’s history gets a bit murky, 1775 W. Rosehill Dr. was home to the Anderson Monument Company for probably 70 years or so before becoming a residence sometime in the 1970s or 1980s.

For a time, the property was an artists’ co-op, then the current owner bought the property in 2018 and built the home that’s now there a couple years later.

McDermott says the owner wanted to pay homage to the property’s history as the Anderson Monument Company. Originally, his plan was to leave up the old wall along N. Ravenswood Ave. that was once part of the company’s administrative offices.

However, the wall was not structurally sound enough to remain entirely up, according to McDermott. But the owner had some of the original limestone facade and ornamental ironwork saved and restored, giving the modern home a throwback look to the past.

“Anderson Monument Company” is still engraved in the limestone over the main entryway:

The ornamental ironwork also gives the property an 1800s touch:

Other throwback touches include the original safe from the Anderson Monument Company that McDermott says was lifted up into the home via crane (it’s only ornamental now), plus original light fixtures in the foyer:

‘No detail spared’

While the home’s limestone facade, ornamental ironwork and other features are original, inside that framework sits an ultra-modern home designed around the courtyard and featuring state-of-the-art amenities, with space to entertain guests.

“There’s no detail spared,” McDermott says.

First off, the entire home is designed to be energy efficient in order to keep heating and cooling costs down. It has a 10-kilowatt solar panel system and a geothermal HVAC system that keeps water at a stable temperature well below ground to heat and cool the home and propel the property’s snowmelt system.

“He’s got a bunch of mechanicals, all in the basement, and it either takes that water that is around 50 or 60 degrees, always, and either cools it or heats it in these machines,” McDermott explains. “It takes less energy.

“Obviously, less energy, less emissions, less bills for utilities.”

In fact, McDermott says the home has a utilities bill about half of what a similar home its size would have.

The home also has a backup generator that can power everything in an emergency, and all of its high-tech, energy-efficient systems are powered by apps.

The main floor includes a living room, family room, recreation room, office, kitchen and dining room. There’s also a space that was dedicated as a green room, but McDermott says that can be used as another family instead if somebody wishes.

The second floor includes the main and the four other bedrooms. And the different floors are accessible by elevator, too.

You can see some of the home’s interior features in the slideshow below (any memorabilia pictured does not come with the home):

‘Ultimate party home’

What this home really stands out for, however, is its ability to entertain guests.

McDermott says his client once owned multiple Chicago bars and is a craft beer expert. So his home has a 15-foot bar with a commercial-grade walk-in cooler, a professional beer tap system with five taps, custom wine storage and a gaming area:

The bar can seat about 15 or 16 people.

“He’s all about craft beer,” McDermott said of his client. “It’s one of the main features of the house. … It is unbelievable. So it’s like the ultimate party house.”

And that goes even beyond the commercial-grade wet bar.

The third floor of the home, which McDermott calls “basically another entertaining floor,” has a rooftop deck with a screened-in porch, a big kitchenette, a living room and a full bathroom.

There’s even a “secret” party location.

Also on the third floor, there’s a door made of spurwoood that has a tiki mask on it. When you pull on the tiki mask, the spurwood door opens, revealing a rooftop tiki bar behind it:

Other features of the home include hardwood floors, zebrawood cabinets, hand-painted Italian tiles, motorized blinds and shades and a 2.5-car attached garage.

And, as mentioned, it’s all designed around the courtyard.

“The idea was to sort of make it kind of unassuming from the outside, and it’s all based around his courtyard,” McDermott said. “The building is like the letter ‘U’ … so the house constantly gets amazing light, and it’s obviously very secure.”

Location, location, location

Now, McDermott concedes the property has been a challenge to sell, given it’s high price tag for the neighborhood.

“It is like far and away the nicest listing, highest-priced listing, to ever hit that area,” McDermott claims.

But he also notes that by being further north from Chicago’s center than another traditionally high-priced neighborhood — Lincoln Park, that is — 1775 W. Rosehill Dr. could offer more bang for the buck for a buyer seeking that “urban sanctuary.”

And no shoveling, either.

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