Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Is Oprah Flipping Out in Chicago?

SELLER: Oprah Winfrey
LOCATION: E. Lake Shore Drive, Chicago, IL
PRICE: $6,000,000
SIZE: 4,607 square feet, 3 bedrooms, 3.2 bathrooms
DESCRIPTION: Benjamin Marshall's 1913 Beaux-arts style jewel! This 4,607 square foot home has amazing views from the library, living room, and master. Ten rooms feature ten foot ceilings; formal spaces include an inner foyer, grand reception, living room, library, dining room, solarium, butler's pantry, wine room, gourmet custom kitchen, laundry room, office/3rd bed, en-suite guest bed and master suite.

YOUR MAMAS NOTES: Way back in December of 2006, not long after Your Mama started our little online endeavor, we discussed a 10-room Chicago condo that was widely rumored and reported to have been purchased by mega media mogul Oprah Winfrey for $5,600,000.

Well children, thanks to a Shaneeta in Chicago we've learned that the very same above mentioned apartment has been listed for sale with an asking price of $6,000,000 which means, of course, that the first lady of talk show television is flipping out in Chicago. Now listen children, like when we first discussed this property, we can not be 100% positive this place is owned by La Oprah. However, between you and us, well, we'd bet our long bodied bitches Linda and Beverly it is.

Listing information for the 6th floor apartment in a swanky Beaux-arts building on posh E. Lake Shore Drive in the Streeterville neighborhood reveals it measures in at 4,607 square feet and includes three bedrooms and 3.2 bathrooms. We're not quite sure what exactly a .2 bathroom is, but we'll just move on from that real estate mind bender.

In addition to a large inner foyer and large reception room for receiving hoity toity guests and paying the pizza man, the sprawling unit includes a living room, dining room, wood paneled library with a green marble surrounded fireplace, a decked out galley kitchen, solarium, a butler's pantry, a 462 bottle wine room for all the wine loving rich folks and a large laundry room. (Do you think The Big O does her own laundry or does she have a full time gurl for that?). One of the three bedrooms has been or can be used as an office, according to listing information.

Additional features of the pet friendly buildinginclude a 24/7 doorman, a work out room (can you see Miss Oprah sweating with the other rich residents of this building?), private storage space, and heated garaging for 2 automobiles, a feature that anyone who has ever been to Chicago in February can appreciate. And while it does not say so, you can bet if Oprah even considered living here the security is scary good.

The dee-luxe building, built in 1913, requires monthly association fees of $9,213 and the taxes will run almost another four grand a month. But it should come as no surprise to anyone that an exclusive building like this would have insanely high monthly fees.

Previous residents of the 12-story 13-unit building are said to include dead comedian John Candy and according to property records, other current residents of the building design maven Holly Hunt and jeweler Deborah Friedman who hawks elaborate and expensive jewel encrusted baubles.

Because the photos for this apartment show it totally void of furniture and furnishings, we can't be sure if this is the E. Lake Shore Drive apartment where Miz Winfrey generously (and reportedly) let Oscar winning singer/actress Jennifer Hudson hole up in the aftermath of the terrible homicides that recently beset her family.

We can't be troubled to list the details of all the many properties The Big O owns around the country (leave that to Mister Big Time), but suffice to say she's got a $50,000,000+ place in Montecito, CA she calls "Promised Land," ocean front property in Maui, several condos in Atlanta, another in Milwaukee, more in Florida (that she's been selling off), a condo in Nashville and house in nearby Franklin, TN, a house in rural Indiana, and heaven only knows how many houses and condos in and around Chicago. And that's not even counting the places she's bought for her best gurl friend Gail in both Greenwich, CT and New York City.

38 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a beautiful, clean mansion! What a view too! What a shame that O can't give this away as one of her 'favorite things'! :)

Anonymous said...

3.2 bathrooms means that there are 3 full bathrooms and 2 half bathrooms. If it were to say 3.5, that would mean 3 full and 1 half. For some reason 3.1 and 3.5 are equivalent in broker language. Sometimes you may also see 3.2 = 3.55 to indicate 2 half baths.

Anonymous said...

Does this mean O is headed back to her longtime duplex in the Water Tower?

Anonymous said...

Overall, I love it. But is that the main kitchen? For a house this size, that kitchen in WAY too small.

Anonymous said...

Elegant building, and I'm suprised it attracted John Candy. I never would have paired the two, not that I had a clue about his tastes. What an extremely nice gesture on Oprah's part to offer Jennifer Hudson refuge there. My heart sincerely goes out to her. I can't even begin to imagine.. Thanks much Mama.

Anonymous said...

OMG me myself and I, as Mama would say, am I a trifle too late to the lezbo rodeo on this one? I will stand corrected if I am but I remember when the divine Mz O (and surely therein lies a clue) was in "The Colour Purple". As a Brit I never could get my head round all that looking at the vagina thingy with a mirror, especially since I don't have one. Anyone, is she really???

StPaulSnowman said...

What a treat to see these empty spaces and have the opportunity to imagine where the Steinway and Aga would look best. It is much easier to imagine how it could look without having to see through some stager's chenille and sectionals..........on the downside, I missed Mama's piercing and hilarious comments about the furnishings usually seen in these posts. Emma Royd, if really an Englishman must have a real name. I am guessing it is Cedrick Pigott-Piles.

Anonymous said...

StPaulSnowman, u may well wonder. But yes, I live a modest life just north of London, and barely a hop, skip, or pogo jump from The Bishops Avenue, Hampstead, London. Hence the odd timings of my posts.

Anonymous said...

Which have somehow transmogrified to Los Angeles time, still, stranger things have happened.....It is currently 21.26 here if anyone is interested.....

StPaulSnowman said...

E-Royd; How lucky you are to live so much closer to so many magnificent "piles" Someday, I would love to see Stokesay Court in person. Enjoy Mama's Buffet!

Anonymous said...

I believe Oprah purchased this place to live in while she renovated and expanded her Water Tower residence. Must be finished and she's decamped back to the high-house in the sky.

She also owns a loft near Harpo studios, which is where I believe Jennifer Hudson is / was holdin' up.

Anonymous said...

This is actually the most exclusive area of Chicago. These buildings are Co-Op's not condo's, which is why the monthly's are so high.

Furthermore, this is The Gold Coast, not really Streeterville, which is more south and close to Navy Pier.

TonyV said...

Mama, I'm pretty sure she calls her Montecito domicile "Tara." Gurrrl must be a HUGE GWTW fan.

SitDownKaren said...

Ahhh so pretty!!!

Maybe shes movin cause Chicago is being over ran with gangs.

Obama ( I know, I know he's from shitcago) is awesome though!!!

Or her lady "friend" wants her closer.

Anonymous said...

Karen, have you ever even been to Chicago?

The city isn't even close to over-run with gangs as you lay claim. Come on gurl, get a clue.

Chicago is prehaps the cleanest safest major city in the country/world. It's just boring and midwest-ey is the problem.

Anonymous said...

I'm surprised more celeb's (atleast that we hear of) don't get a place in Chicago. It's a pretty clean city. And real estate is DIRT cheap in comparison to LA and NY

Anonymous said...

Same thing goes for Oprah as Madge.

Just sooo tired of her, she's richer and rich.

She needs to just go away under a rock some where and enjoy the rest of her filthy rich life in leisure.

Anonymous said...

Anon 2:51 - the reason is called "weather".

StPaulSnowman said...

Weather...................deal with it!

Anonymous said...

Anon 3:21, NYC weather isn't any different ya tool

Anonymous said...

if it is a co-op then the dues are normally stated as quarterly which would make the fees in line with a dee luxx apt in SF or NY.

Anonymous said...

No, the fees are NOT stated quarterly. Perhaps you don't know luxury real estate at all, but a unit this size and price several thousand dollars a month is very common for maintence fees, however, Mama got it wrong, in co-ops in Chicago the taxes are included in the monthly fee, so the $9,213.00 / mo includes the taxes... which the tax bill comes to exaclty $40,511.10 last year.

Anonymous said...

That is my dream apartment!

The only question I have:

Is that the kitchen or a wet bar? If Oprah did indeed live there during a renovation of her duplex, I imagine her chef prepped her meals elsewhere?

Mama, as for working out: Oprah does that at the studio with the show's staff.

Anonymous said...

Oh, LOL, I guess I was looking at the wet bar.

The actual kitchen isn't that much larger. Although I do imagine it large enough for her chef to be able to properly prepare a meal.

Anonymous said...

I've been living in co-ops since I was born, and they are NOT stated quarterly. And the maintenance covers prop tax.

Anonymous said...

And I know in NYC now 1/2 baths are becoming extinct. When people renovate, or build new, a shower is always tucked away somewhere now. There's no value without the shower.

Anonymous said...

That is not true at all 7:27.

There is only much additional value for a shower if the bathroom is connected witha bedroom, if you have a condo / house with a full bathroom for every bedroom, the difference in price between an additional full or half bath wouldn't be much if any.

Anonymous said...

Anon 7:30 in space starved NYC no matter how big the unit, if you have a guest on the aero bed or sofa, you don't want them coming into the master or another room.

Look at pretty much every new bldg there being built. And when people renovate, they ALWAYS add in the shower in a closet, as plumbing is right there.

Anonymous said...

Don't forget Big O owns a house at the JERSEY SHORE! Lavalette. Everyone hates on NJ, but all the celebs live there, even Billionaire O.

Anonymous said...

I disagree that you need a shower in every bath. Sometimes it's nice to have a just a "water closet" near an entrance or party room.

StPaulSnowman said...

If any of the Chillrun plans to go to Chitown to stalk the Oprah, make sure you take in the Dreihaus Museum. It is an amazingly restored Chicago mansion housing magnificent artworks. Not to be missed!

Anonymous said...

I think its gross to have a full bath as a guest bath, in bedrooms great, but guest should use a powder room, it's much more dignified than a full bath.

Anonymous said...

"more dignified"

harrumph

Anonymous said...

Haarrumph yourself you fudge packer

Anonymous said...

SitDownKaren, you're an idiot. Either you know very little about Chicago or you're just speaking out of misguided fear, because Chicago is far from being a gang-haven. In fact, it has far less gang activity than both LA and NYC. It's also one of the cleanest major cities not just in the nation, BUT IN THE WORLD; daly has been a huge backer of the green movement.

btw, mama, oprah doesn't own the indiana farm anymore. i went to boarding school about an hour away from the estate and there was lots of hooplah when it finally sold a few years back.

Anonymous said...

Oprah is good to her peeps.

SitDownKaren said...

Anon & Bookworm: I guess I should of made something clear before I typed. I got FUCKING robbed in Chicago by a bunch of loser gangsters.

When my cousin and I went to the police department the POLICE told us that it was a melting pot of gang activity and they deal with it on a daily basis. I'll take their word for it.

No, we were not in the ghetto either. My cousin has moved (thank goodness) to Vermont.

Anonymous said...

Jennifer Hudson has been holed up at the Trump, which honestly I don't really understand because it's no more private than the secured building she lives in a few blocks away. Perhaps if the InStyle shoot she did had not made it so obvious that she lived in that particular building...