Biglaw, Fabulosity, Lawyerly Lairs, Money, Real Estate

Lawyerly Lairs: The House That Winston Built

Behold the $10 million mansion built for Frederick Winston, the founding partner of Winston and Strawn. It's so huge, it looks like an apartment building.

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In 1853, in Chicago, Frederick Hampden Winston founded the law firm that would eventually become Winston & Strawn. Today Winston is a global giant, with approximately 1,000 lawyers practicing in 15 offices around the world.

As you might expect from the founder of one of the world’s great law firms, Frederick Winston was an impressive individual. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1852. His first law partner, Norman Judd, was the delegate who nominated Abraham Lincoln at the 1860 Republican National Convention. His next law partner, after Judd became President Lincoln’s ambassador to Germany, was Henry Blodgett — no, not that Henry Blodget (one “t” versus two) — who later served as a federal judge. In 1894, Frederick Winston became law partners with Silas Strawn — and the rest, as the say, is history.

If you’d like to own a piece of history, you can purchase the 1896 mansion that was built for Frederick Winston. It’s now on the market, for just under $10 million.

No, this is not an apartment building (although it could be converted into one). It’s a single-family house — the house that Winston built….

It’s located at 1508 North State Parkway, in the heart of Chicago’s tony Gold Coast neighborhood, just steps away from Lake Michigan and the beloved North Avenue Beach. Here’s the $9.95 million listing, from Karen Kass of Prudential Rubloff, which is short and sweet (for a house like this, res ipsa loquitur):

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Chicago-Near North Side
8 Bedrooms / 6 Bathrooms
$9,950,000

Timeless elegance on double landscaped lot with pond and gracious garden. Home was built for Frederick Winston of Winston and Strawn in 1896 and has been lovingly restored over the years. One of the most coveted properties on the Gold Coast. House has 35 rooms, 14 bedrooms, 10 fireplaces and 10 baths, 3 decks plus beautiful brick patio.

There seem to be some internal inconsistencies in the listing. Does the house have eight bedrooms or 14? Does the house have ten bathrooms or six? Perhaps there are four half-baths? Inquiring minds want to know — because who can bear the thought of living in a house with bedroom and bathroom counts in the single digits? The horror, the horror!

Some of the discrepancies may be explainable based on how some potential bedrooms have been converted to other uses. We’ll show you some photos, and you can see what we’re talking about….

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