15-year-old boy killed and nine other people wounded in two shootings blocks and minutes apart on West Side. ‘Heartbreaking and shocking.’Cindy Hernandezon July 22, 2021 at 1:29 pm

Reshorna Fitzpatrick stood with four other pastors as police placed white markers near shell casings strewn on the street and sidewalk near Theodore Herzl Elementary School in North Lawndale.

Five people — three of them teens — had been shot there, minutes after five other people had been shot just blocks away. A 15-year-old boy died in that shooting.

“I’m heartbroken,” said Fitzpatrick, pastor of the Stone Temple Missionary Baptist Church down the street. “It’s heartbreaking and shocking because we had gotten to a place where we were really experiencing some peace.”

The two shootings Wednesday evening were among three mass attacks in Chicago in a single day. The other occurred close to midnight in Lincoln Park when someone in a passing car shot eight people who had been riding in a party bus.

At least 34 other shootings this year have wounded four or more people, according to a Sun-Times analysis of city data. Over the last five years, Chicago has recorded the most mass shootings in the nation by far, according to the Gun Violence Archive.

Police tape blocks off a section of the crime scene in front of Theodore Herzl School at the corner of W Douglas Blvd and S Ridgeway Ave in Lawndale, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times — Police tape blocks off a section of the crime scene in front of Theodore Herzl School at the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Ridgeway Avenue in North Lawndale on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Three of the victims from the attacks were 15 and younger, continuing a trend of rising violence against children this year.

The neighborhood where they were shot, North Lawndale, has been more deadly this year than this time last year, from 21 homicides to 30.

“I really wish that the community would come together and operate from a place of peace,” Fitzpatrick said. “That they would establish some type of faith, some type of order in the homes with their family members and have conversations, particularly around peace, and also around just being community — to just come in and be one.”

The first attack happened around 6 p.m. when a gunman or gunmen opened fire at the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Christiana Avenue, according to Chicago Police Deputy Chief Ernest Cato.

Damarion L. Benson, 15, was shot in the head and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said. Police earlier gave his age as 14. He lived about 2 ¹/₂ miles away on the Near West Side.

A car on its side at a crime scene at the corner of W Douglas Blvd and S Ridgeway Ave in Lawndale, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times — A car sits on its side at a crime scene at the corner of Douglas Boulevard and Ridgeway Avenue in North Lawndale on Wednesday, July 21, 2021.

Another boy, 16, was also struck in the head and was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in “grave” condition, police said.

Three men were also taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where they were stabilized, police said. A 22-year-old was shot in the foot and another, 24, was struck in the leg. A third man, also 24, was shot in the hip.

Minutes later, three teenagers and two men were shot outside Herzl Elementary near Douglas Boulevard and Ridgeway Avenue, Cato said.

An 18-year-old man was shot in the upper body and was taken in critical condition to Mouint Sinai Hospital, police said.

Two boys, 15 and 17, were taken to Stroger Hospital in good condition, police said. The 15-year-old was shot in the leg and the 17-year-old suffered a graze wound to the back.

A third boy, 14, was shot in the arm and taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition, police said. A 22-year-old man was struck in the thigh and taken to the hospital in good condition.

At the scene, a car was flipped on its side, apparently the result of someone making a turn at a high rate of speed, according to Cato.

Though only three blocks apart, the two shootings didn’t appear to be related, Cato said. He pleaded with community members to come forward with information.

“We’re going to need an all-hands-on-deck approach, and that approach is going to involve … our community getting involved and saying what’s going on,” he said. “Our community who has cellphone pictures, who has Facebook information. We’re going to need your help.”

On the two mass shootings occurring so close to one another, Cato said, “Unfortunately, we’re seeing this not only in our city. We’re seeing this in our country, mass shootings. If you’re asking for my feelings, I’m not happy about it at all. I think all of us should be sad about what’s going on in our country and in our city.”

Fitzpatrick, the executive pastor of Stone Temple, said she was working in a nearby community peace garden when she heard gunshots. Then she saw people running and shooting each other.

“It kind of reminded me of some of the westerns that my dad [watched],” said Fitzpatrick, who said there was rapid shooting for 30 to 60 seconds.

Fitzpatrick said her church hosts “Wellness Sundays” on the boulevard and invites community members to socialize and participate in activities like face painting and tight-rope walking on the grassy median.

“It’s really been working,” she said. “That’s why this is really shocking to me.”

Deputy Chief Ernest Cato addresses the media regarding the recent shooting that happened minutes from each other at the corner of W Douglas Blvd and S Ridgeway Ave in Lawndale, Wednesday, July 21, 2021. | Anthony Vazquez/Sun-Times — Deputy Chief Ernest Cato discusses two mass shootings that happened minutes apart Wednesday evening in North Lawndale.

15-year-old boy killed and nine other people wounded in two shootings blocks and minutes apart on West Side. ‘Heartbreaking and shocking.’Cindy Hernandezon July 22, 2021 at 1:29 pm Read More »

2 Steppenwolf actors to replace Anna Shapiro as co-artistic directorsMiriam Di Nunzioon July 22, 2021 at 3:00 pm

A new day will soon dawn at Steppenwolf Theatre Company.

The Tony Award-winning Chicago company on Thursday announced the appointment of co-artistic directors — Glenn Davis and Audrey Francis — marking the first time in Steppenwolf’s history that the job will be shared by two individuals, and the first time that a person of color will helm the troupe.

Davis and Francis, both ensemble members in the company, will assume their leadership roles in late August, following the departure of artistic director Anna D. Shapiro, who announced in May that she was stepping down from the post she’d held since 2015.

“We knew that Anna was most likely not going to renew her contract, so the ensemble had already been in discussion [since last fall] about the succession plan. And through all of those discussions, two beautiful things were born: one, deciding to adopt a co-artistic director model, which to us is basically ensemble leadership. And the second was it was the first democratic process that the ensemble had in electing the two next artistic directors,” Francis said during a recent joint interview with Davis.

“Glenn and I raised our hands as a team and the ensemble voted. And because of the amazing work [that late artistic director] Martha [Lavey] and Anna had done before us, this felt like a natural evolution for the company. Because we already operate as an ensemble company, this idea of ensemble leadership … is such a great exploration for us because Glenn and I have two very different world views and life experiences. It can only benefit the company and the city.”

Davis and Francis have extensive experience locally and across the globe in the theater world, on stage, behind the scenes and in educational settings.

Francis boasts a resume as actor, director, teaching artist and educator, having co-founded Black Box Acting in 2009, serving more than 1,000 Chicago-area theater students and artists. A transplanted Coloradan, she’s a graduate of The School at Steppenwolf and familiar to theatergoers for her roles in “The Doppelganger (an international farce),” “Between Riverside and Crazy” and “I Am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter.”

Davis, a native of Chicago’s South Side, is a graduate of the Theatre School at DePaul University and the first African American to graduate from the Birmingham Conservatory for Classical Theatre at the Stratford Festival in Ontario, Canada. His work at Steppenwolf includes “Downstate” and “The Brother/Sister Plays.” He’s a partner at the Cast Iron Entertainment collective along with Sterling K. Brown, Brian Tyree Henry, Jon Michael Hill, Andre Holland, and Tarell Alvin McCraney.

“I wouldn’t say doors were closed to me as an artist of color, but when you’re a Black artist, the doors are limited in number,” Davis said. “So we formed this production company and we started to build projects in film, TV and theater. … If the world is not going to put us in this, we are going to put us in this.”

The duo already has a sense of how to divvy up the job.

“Glenn is definitely going to be the point person on programming and institutional advancement,” Francis said, “and I’ll be the point person on things like education and artistic and organizational leadership. But not one decision will be made without us being in conversation with each other.”

Central to their plans will be Steppenwolf’s new 50,000-square-foot Arts & Education Center, scheduled to open this fall.

“We have a beautiful new building that will be an entry point to reach out to communities in Chicago that don’t normally get to come to places like Steppenwolf … communities that have been historically marginalized, to be honest, that don’t get the chance to come to Lincoln Park and experience cultural entities like Steppenwolf,” Davis said. “So we think of that building as a love letter to the city. The arts and education building will be pivotal in terms of all the things we will do going forward. There’s a big audience we want to cultivate of the next five, 10, 15 years, and that will be their entry point. But also we want to continue to center the ensemble, that everything continues to emanate from the artists who built the company years ago and who are the main ingredient.”

Contributing: Darel Jevens

2 Steppenwolf actors to replace Anna Shapiro as co-artistic directorsMiriam Di Nunzioon July 22, 2021 at 3:00 pm Read More »

This week in history: Neil Armstrong steps on the moonAlison Martinon July 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm

As reported in the Chicago Daily News, sister publication of the Chicago Sun-Times:

On the morning of Sunday, July 20, 1969, Chicagoans kept one eye on the sky and the other on their daily paper. Since Wednesday, all news centered on the three-astronaut crew of Apollo 11, which was scheduled to land on the moon that day. If everything went well, man would walk on the moon.

In Houston, Sun-Times correspondent William Hines covered the expected — though nevertheless extremely suspenseful — 34 minutes in which Apollo 11 floated behind the moon, coasted towards the surface and lost contact with mission control.

To successfully maneuver into lunar orbit, the ship’s engine needed to gulp “12 tons of fuel in six minutes of operation, reducing Apollo’s weight from 48 tons to 36 between 12:22 p.m. and 12:28 p.m.,” Hines wrote.

For 10 minutes after that, “it was the case here at mission control of no news being good news. Each passing second after 12:37 p.m. added to the likelihood that a crucial lunar orbit insertion maneuver had been carried out successfully on schedule,” Hines reported.

Had the ship resumed communications at 12:37 p.m., the reporter noted that it would have spelled disaster for the mission and ended the chance to make history.

As the astronauts got their first close-up glimpse of the moon’s surface, commander Neil Armstrong told mission control that no training, simulations or rehearsals could have prepared him for what he was seeing, Hines said.

“The pictures and maps brought back by Apollos 8 and 9 have given us a very good preview of what to look at here,” Armstrong said. “It looks very much like the pictures; but like the difference between watching a real football game and one on TV, there’s no substitution for actually being here.”

Gazing out at the moon’s surface, Armstrong later quipped, “The view is worth the price of the trip.” Hines said experts estimated the trip to the moon cost $3.5 million, but others put that price tag closer to the $1 billion mark. (From 1960 through 1973, the Apollo program spent more than $25 billion developing the rockets and other equipment for those missions.)

That night, a Sun-Times photographer headed to State and Madison downtown to capture Chicagoans who watched the moon landing from their homes and storefront windows. Outside a Walgreens, residents stood reading the electronic news ticker near State and Madison.

People stand outside a Walgreens to read the electronic news ticker announcing the moon landing on July 20, 1969. — Chicagoans gather outside a Walgreens to read the electronic news ticker announcing the moon landing on July 20, 1969.

The moon landing happened on a Sunday long after the papers had finished publishing for the day. The Chicago Daily News picked up the story the next day with a full-page photo of the astronauts unveiling the American flag on the moon and an accompanying story.

“Neil Armstrong, commander of lunar landing craft Eagle, set first foot on the powdery surface at 9:56 p.m. (Chicago time) with these words: ‘One small step for man, but one giant leap for mankind.’ Twenty minutes later he was joined by Edwin E. Aldrin Jr. The two U.S. astronauts explored the moon surface for 2 hours and 11 minutes before returning to the Eagle,” the paper reported.

This week in history: Neil Armstrong steps on the moonAlison Martinon July 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm Read More »

Texas, Oklahoma talk to SEC about joining leagueRalph D. Russo | Associated Presson July 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm

The last time Texas got a wandering eye for another conference it fueled a series of realignments in college sports that nearly killed the Big 12.

Texas is once again exploring free agency, stealing the headlines at the Southeastern Conference media days and cranking up speculation about another round of conference shuffling. And the Longhorns aren’t alone in looking around.

There have been discussions between Texas and Oklahoma and SEC officials about switching conferences, but no formal invitations have been extended, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press on Wednesday night.

The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the talks were intended to be confidential, said officials from Texas initiated the discussion. The Houston Chronicle first reported the discussions.

Adding two members would give the powerhouse SEC 16 teams, the most in major college football. Losing two schools would be a devastating blow to the 10-member Big 12.

Questions about the report were greeted by a series of no comments from the primary parties involved, but no denials.

“I’m talking about the 2021 season,” SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey said at SEC football media days.

Texas A&M athletic director Ross Bjork was adamant about not wanting the Longhorns, once the school’s greatest rival, in the SEC.

“We want to be the only SEC program in the state of Texas,” Bjork told reporters. “There’s a reason why Texas A&M left the Big 12, to be standalone, to have our own identity. And that’s our feeling.”

SEC bylaws require at least three-fourths (11) of the members to vote in favor of extending an invitation to join.

“The college athletics landscape is shifting constantly,” Oklahoma said in a statement. “We don’t address every anonymous rumor.”

A Texas statement offered a similar response: “Speculation always swirls around collegiate athletics. We will not address rumors or speculation.”

Big 12 Commissioner Bob Bowlsby did not return messages from AP seeking comment. Just last week at Big 12 media days in Arlington, Texas, he talked about how conference realignment was no longer a top concern for the Big 12.

“Not to say it couldn’t happen, but it’s not one of the things that keeps me up at night,” he said.

Any move to leave the Big 12 would be complicated by an agreement its schools made after the last round of realignment to hand their media rights over to the league through their current television deals. The grant of rights lines up with the Big 12’s contracts with Fox and ESPN and runs through the 2024-25 school year.

Back in 2010, the then Pac-10 tried to woo Texas and five other Big 12 schools into the West Coast-based conference to form a Pac-16.

Texas stayed put and instead started its own television network. After another flirtation between Texas, Oklahoma and then-Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott, Texas A&M bolted for the SEC in 2012 and Missouri followed.

The Big 12, which had already lost Nebraska to the Big Ten and Colorado to the Pac-12, managed to hang on by inviting TCU and West Virginia.

College sports was turned upside down for about three years as conferences jockeyed to fortify themselves and schools scrambled to not be left out. The Big East was poached right out of the major college football business before finally reconstituting as the American Athletic Conference.

Life without Texas and Oklahoma would be uncertain — at best — for the other schools in the Big 12.

Even an unconfirmed report, prompted an assertive response from Oklahoma State.

“If true, we would be gravely disappointed,” the Cowboys’ statement said. “While we place a premium on history, loyalty and trust, be assured, we will aggressively defend and advance what is best for Oklahoma State and our strong athletic program, which continues to excel in the Big 12 and nationally.”

The mere possibility of adding Texas and Oklahoma to the strongest football conference in the country is certain to draw the attention of the other Power Five conferences. Especially as the leaders of those leagues look to expand the College Football Playoff from four to 12 teams.

Oklahoma is the only Big 12 team to make the playoff, doing so four times. The road to the CFP would be tougher through the SEC but a bigger field could provide more paths.

The SEC recently signed a new television deal with ESPN that gives the cable TV sports giant all of its rights. It is unclear if adding Texas and Oklahoma would create an opportunity for the SEC to increase the value of those contracts for all its members and not just provide enough to cover additions at the current rate.

The SEC announced earlier this year it had distributed about $45.5 million each to its members. The Big 12 schools received about $10 million less from its conference.

When Texas A&M coach Jimbo Fisher was asked about Texas and Oklahoma being interested in the SEC during his session with the media in Hoover, he said: “I bet they would.”

“Listen, we’ve got the greatest league in ball,” Fisher said. “That’s the choices they make or what they do, I don’t know, but I don’t know how I feel about it.”

Texas, Oklahoma talk to SEC about joining leagueRalph D. Russo | Associated Presson July 22, 2021 at 3:30 pm Read More »

Olympic opening ceremony director fired for Holocaust jokeAssociated Presson July 22, 2021 at 3:41 pm

TOKYO — The Tokyo Olympic organizing committee fired the director of the opening ceremony on Thursday because of a Holocaust joke he made during a comedy show in 1998.

Organizing committee president Seiko Hashimoto said a day ahead of the opening ceremony that director Kentaro Kobayashi has been dismissed. He was accused of using a joke about the Holocaust in his comedy act, including the phrase “Let’s play Holocaust.”

“We found out that Mr. Kobayashi, in his own performance, has used a phrase ridiculing a historical tragedy,” Hashimoto said. “We deeply apologize for causing such a development the day before the opening ceremony and for causing troubles and concerns to many involved parties as well as the people in Tokyo and the rest of the country.”

Tokyo has been plagued with scandals since being awarded the Games in 2013. French investigators are looking into alleged bribes paid to International Olympic Committee members to influence the vote for Tokyo. The fallout forced the resignation two years ago of Tsunekazu Takeda, who headed the Japanese Olympic Committee and was an IOC member.

The opening ceremony of the pandemic-delayed Games is scheduled for Friday. The ceremony will be held without spectators as a measure to prevent the spread of coronavirus infections, although some officials, guests and media will attend.

“We are going to have the opening ceremony tomorrow and, yes, I am sure there are a lot of people who are not feeling easy about the opening of the Games,” Hashimoto said. “But we are going to open the Games tomorrow under this difficult situation.”

Earlier this week, composer Keigo Oyamada, whose music was to be used at the ceremony, was forced to resign because of past bullying of his classmates, which he boasted about in magazine interviews. The segment of his music will not be used.

Soon after a video clip and script of Kobayashi’s performance were revealed, criticism flooded social media.

“Any person, no matter how creative, does not have the right to mock the victims of the Nazi genocide,” said Rabbi Abraham Cooper, associate dean and global social action director of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, a Los Angeles-based human rights group.

He also noted that the Nazis gassed Germans with disabilities.

“Any association of this person to the Tokyo Olympics would insult the memory of 6 million Jews and make a cruel mockery of the Paralympics,” he said.

Kobayashi is a former member of a popular comedy duo Rahmens and known overseas for comedy series including “The Japanese Tradition.”

Japan is pushing ahead with the Olympics against the advice of most of its medical experts. This is partially due to pressure from the IOC, which is estimated to face losses of $3 billion to $4 billion in television rights income if the Games were not held.

The official cost of the Olympics is $15.4 billion, but government audits suggest it’s much more. All but $6.7 billion is public money.

“We have been preparing for the last year to send a positive message,” Hashimoto said. “Toward the very end now there are so many incidents that give a negative image toward Tokyo 2020.”

Toshiro Muto, the CEO of the Tokyo organizing committee, also acknowledged the reputational damage.

“Maybe these negative incidents will impact the positive message we wanted to deliver to the world,” he said.

The last-minute scandals come as Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga’s government faces criticism for prioritizing the Olympics despite public health concerns amid a resurgence of coronavirus infections.

Koichi Nakano, who teach politics at Sophia University, wrote on Twitter that the opening ceremony chaos underscores a lack of awareness in Japan about diversity.

Tokyo Governor Yuriko Koike said she learned of Koyayashi’s comments from Hashimoto.

“I was astonished,” she said.

Kobayashi’s Holocaust joke and Oyamada’s resignation were the latest to plague the Games. Yoshiro Mori resigned as organizing committee president over sexist remarks. Hiroshi Sasaki also stepped down as creative director for the opening and closing ceremonies after suggesting a Japanese actress should dress as a pig.

Also this week, the chiropractor for the American women’s wrestling team apologized after comparing Olympic COVID-19 protocols to Nazi Germany in a social media post. Rosie Gallegos-Main, the team’s chiropractor since 2009, will be allowed to finish her planned stay at USA Wrestling’s pre-Olympic camp in Nakatsugawa, Japan.

___

AP Sports Writer Stephen Wade contributed to this report.

Olympic opening ceremony director fired for Holocaust jokeAssociated Presson July 22, 2021 at 3:41 pm Read More »

Ken Harrelson’s Hall of Fame induction all about his familiesDaryl Van Schouwenon July 22, 2021 at 3:49 pm

Ask Ken Harrelson what going into the Hall of Fame Saturday means to him and he does not hesitate.

“I’m really happy that my grandkids will be able to enjoy it,” said Harrelson, who will be surrounded by his three grandsons and 20 other family members at Cooperstown this weekend. The group will tour the Hall and make an extended weekend vacation out of Harrelson’s big day.

Harrelson will be inducted into the Hall as the 2020 recipient of the Ford C. Frick Award, presented annually to one broadcaster for “major contributions to baseball.”

For the broadcaster of 42 years, 33 of them in the White Sox booth, the joy will be in sharing the moment with family. And reflecting on relationships built over the years with the White Sox, his other family.

Harrelson was named the Frick Award winner in December of 2019 but was not enshrined last summer because of the coronavirus.

He will have his day, but it won’t be his day in the sun. While the enshrinements of Derek Jeter, Larry Walker, Ted Simmons and the late Marvin Miller were delayed until Sept. 8 in a ceremony taking place outdoors, an indoor, television-only event Saturday will honor Harrelson and fellow Frick Award inductee Al Michaels. Also to be honored: Baseball Writers Association of America Career Excellence Award winners Dick Kaegel and the late Nick Cafardo, and Buck O’Neil Lifetime Achievement Award winner David Montgomery.

Harrelson’s speech promises to entertain, of course, complete with multiple digs at broadcaster Bob Uecker.

“I’m going to wear his a– out,” he said.

In a more sentimental vein, the man known as “Hawk” will reflect on relationships made in the game that are more meaningful to him now at age 79 than they’ve ever been.

“It’s not just the calling of the games that I miss, it’s the people,” Harrelson said in a conversation with the Sun-Times, listing off names of people in the Sox organization. “I’m going to talk about that Saturday — we got to be very close over the years. It’s not a situation that I like those people, I love those people. And I miss them.”

And the players.

“I had the Mark Buehrles, the Big Hurt [Frank Thomas, who he famously nicknamed], the Robin Venturas and Ozzie [Guillen] and all those people as well. With me, it was more than just a job. I love the game — the greatest game we’ve ever seen, a game of heroes and memories and a generational game.”

Harrelson cherishes moments when a grandson sits on his lap and says, “Papa, did you play against Mickey Mantle?” He loves answering “yes.” And then mentioning he also played against Willie Mays and Stan Musial and hit against Sandy Koufax, Bob Gibson and his former broadcast partner Don Drysdale.

The 44th winner of the Frick Award, Harrelson joins former White Sox broadcasters Jack Brickhouse (1983), Harry Caray (1989), Bob Elson (1979) and Milo Hamilton (1992). The voice of White Sox television for 33 years, he left the broadcast booth following the 2018 season. Before calling games for the Sox he broadcast games for the Red Sox and Yankees, and with the Sox coined numerous catch phrases. “He gone!”, “Mercy!” and “You can put it on the board, yes!” are just a few.

He misses it.

“You don’t something for 42 years and not miss it,” he said. “If it wasn’t for the grandkids, I’d go crazy, I really would. All three of our grandsons, Nico, Alexander and Hank, we’re very close. Let’s put it that way.”

They’ll all be there Saturday to make Harrelson’s day.

Ken Harrelson’s Hall of Fame induction all about his familiesDaryl Van Schouwenon July 22, 2021 at 3:49 pm Read More »

Man charged with West Englewood shooting that killed one, wounded anotherMohammad Samraon July 22, 2021 at 2:41 pm

A man has been charged with murdering a man and wounding another in April in West Englewood on the South Side.

Jamelle Carraway, 22, was identified by police as a participant in a shooting that killed 20-year-old Vonshea Norman in the 6100 block of South Marshfield, Chicago police said.

Norman and another man were standing there around 6 p.m. April 5 when Carraway and others walked up and opened fire, police said.

Norman was shot several times while the second man, also 20, was grazed in the chest, police said. Norman was pronounced dead at a hospital three hours later.

Carraway was arrested Wednesday morning and charged in the murder, police said.

He was expected to appear in court later Thursday.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

Man charged with West Englewood shooting that killed one, wounded anotherMohammad Samraon July 22, 2021 at 2:41 pm Read More »

Five Big, Spectacular Homes in the Chicago SuburbsWhet Moseron July 22, 2021 at 2:00 pm

While working on last week’s roundup of North Shore homes, I had the idea that I’d do one of McMansion-era, McMansion-price homes. Not pure McMansions—a turkey shoot alone seemed like a grim ordeal, and if you want a turkey shoot from which you can actually learn something about architecture and design, well, McMansion Hell is better at it than anything I can give you.

Instead, I wanted something about the size, price, age, and even the aesthetic of a McMansion but that was actually money well spent. I found five post-1980 homes over a million dollars, in the suburbs you’d expect to find them, that are just pretty cool: unique, expensive, big, but also tasteful. Excess, but not wretched excess. One is a cheat—just shy of ten million is a mansion, I reckon—but it’s an especially good example of dialing that balance in.

This is pretty clearly the work of a capital-A architect—in this case, a later work by the late Roy Binkley, who designed midcentury modern homes around Chicago, who was clearly able to adapt to the 1980s. The triangular entryway continues all the way to the rear, through a spectacular postmodern main room that combines a dining room and parlor. For a cozier place to eat or talk, there’s a warm eat-in kitchen and a den off the patio with a corner fireplace. Around back, there’s a homey greenhouse/outdoor room and a pool, and lots and lots of green—appropriate for a home adjacent to Ragdale, Howard Van Doren Shaw’s old getaway.

This is kind of my dream home: a little bit midcentury ranch, a little bit A-frame, a little bit 1980s Michael Mann movie set. Open the front door and there’s immediately a lake view, since almost every room in this house has a lake view. That also includes the indoor pool, which looks down not just at the lake, but the outdoor pool, which looks down the bluff to the boathouse, which is on the lake, and which houses not just boats but two fireplaces, a kitchen, and a bar. And despite all this… it’s pretty tasteful. The main house lets the lake do almost all the work, especially in the home office, with its sweeping view of Lake Michigan.

Entertain your many guests in the finest Y2K style with this house, built in 1999 at the very tail end of the century, and postmodernism. Or, another way of stating its age: there’s a wall-mounted landline phone on the mustard-painted wall next to the black-marble bath. There are a lot of mustard walls in this house. There’s also plenty of glass: a giant arc of glass blocks, mirrored by a two-story bay-window stack that envelops the sunken living room, which gets light from third-story windows that overlook the lofted second-floor hallway. Yes, of course there’s a sauna.

Everyone loves A-frames: they’re striking, affordable, let in tons of light, and are usually associated with getaways to the lakes or mountains. The downside? Since they’re usually affordable getaway spots, they’re usually just the frame, without much space or luxury. But what if I told you you could get an A-frame surrounded by a big ranch, that drops down to a pool, that sits above a private lake? The A-frame sets up a big main room, with huge river-stone pillars framing a stout fireplace, surrounded by lofted hallways that give it a cabin feel. In the rear, the frame tails out into a rounded living room with a wood-paneled ceiling off a huge porch. There are great lines and angles throughout, down to the complex geometric tile in the master bath, which features two massive skylights angling down over the bathtub.

Aah, that’s the good stuff: a midcentury silhouette opening up to whitewashed stone, a trapezoidal atrium and lots and lots of mirrors. White marble, white Barcelona chairs, white walls, a mirrored fireplace, and so many mirrors in the bathroom it practically turns into an infinity room. Above the bathtub: angled greenhouse windows. And downstairs: a sunken… bar? Built in 1985, this is what the future was supposed to look like. We can still get there, but until then, this has been perfectly preserved.

Five Big, Spectacular Homes in the Chicago SuburbsWhet Moseron July 22, 2021 at 2:00 pm Read More »