A four-bedroom, 1,784-square-foot midcentury modern house in Oak Park that was designed by architect John Cordwell sold Oct. 8 for $367,500.
The British-born Cordwell was one of the chief architects of Carl Sandburg Village, which helped revitalize the Near North Side in the 1960s. After retiring as an architect, Cordwell later became known for running a family business, the Red Lion Pub, on the North Side.
In Oak Park, Cordwell designed the midcentury modern home, on North Oak Park Avenue, in 1953 for Bernard and Annabel Abraham. Bernard Abraham, a physicist and onetime Oak Park village trustee, died in 1999, while Annabel Abraham, who was a speech teacher in parochial and later public schools, died in October 2018. The Abraham family owned the home for 66 years.
“It looks exactly how it was designed,” said listing agent Julie Downey of Gagliardo Realty Associates. “And people are infatuated with midcentury modern architecture. They love it, and it’s kind of come around in the last five or seven years.”
The house has two baths, a living and dining area with cork floors, a large brick fireplace, an unfinished basement with a second fireplace, a three-car garage and a vintage kitchen, complete with the original stove. It was sold as-is.
“We priced it to sell knowing that it needed updating but also knowing that it’d be attractive to somebody to come in and restore it to what it was intended,” Downey said. “It’s a nice, clean layout.”
The house first had been listed in May for $399,000.
Public records do not yet identify the buyer.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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