Historical homes line the streets in and around Chicago’s South Side Hyde Park neighborhood, some still untouched by a wave of recent redevelopment.
It’s created a character-rich enclave known for its storied list of past residents, from President Barack Obama just to the north in neighboring Kenwood, to esteemed professors at the University of Chicago, plus two Frank Lloyd Wright national landmarks, the Frederick C. Robie House and the Isidore H. Heller House.
One block south of the Heller house in Hyde Park is 5235 S University Ave., currently the neighborhood’s most expensive listing with an influential background of its own.
Hyde Park “is like a suburb in the city,” said listing agent Shirley Walker of Berkshire Hathaway HomeServices Chicago, who’s been selling in Hyde Park for more than 25 years. “It’s only about eight minutes’ drive from downtown, and yet you’re in a private tree-lined quiet neighborhood with all single-family homes.”
The 7,000-square-foot home is listed at $3.1 million and includes seven bedrooms, six-and-a-half baths and a currently rented coach house. Shirley says the layout and private third floor works well for a young, dual-career family with an au pair or multigenerational living situation.
Noted architect James Gamble Rogers designed this 1904-built home for Hunter Woodis Finch, according to historical documents. Finch headed Hunter W. Finch & Co., a coal company.
Rogers is well known as the architect behind buildings at Northwestern University in Evanston Illinois, Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, New York City’s Columbia University, and the University of Chicago. He also designed the Hyde Park Union Church, built in 1906, which was adopted as a Chicago landmark in July.
Walker said the home maintains many of its original details, including leaded glass windows, extensive woodwork, seven tiled fireplaces, and a butler’s pantry and kitchen with the original nickel sinks. The sellers purchased the home in 2020 for $1.1 million and upgraded select areas but spent the most overhauling the climate control systems and structure.
“They've saved all the original details, but it's totally upgraded,” Walker said. “It's tuck-pointed. The yard was landscaped with a brick patio. They put in a new boiler, heating system, and new air conditioning. All the bathrooms have been upgraded with new fixtures.”
The home is constructed in a cruciform shape with the kitchen, breakfast room, and butler’s pantry on one side and the living room and sunroom on the other. Both sides come together through the dining room. There are two porches and a detached garage.
When the house listed five years ago, it was the first time in nearly 50 years, according to county data. Previous to that, it was the longtime family home of pioneering quantum chemist and University of Chicago professor Clemens C.J. Roothaan, who died in 2019.
Roothaan and his wife purchased the home in 1967. The professor made his first theoretical quantum calculations while in a Nazi concentration camp during World War II, according to the University of Chicago. American soldiers rescued Roothaan after being sent on a death march to the Baltic Sea. He then moved to Chicago to pursue his doctorate at the university and is credited with developing the foundational model of computing the structures of atoms and molecules.
