Exuberantly colorful and detailed throughout with carvings, tile and stained glass, the largest condominium in one of Chicago’s greatest artisan-crafted residential complexes is coming on the market.

Bob Shapiro and Ginger Farley, who have owned the four-bedroom condominium in the Carl Street Studios since 2003, are asking $1.495 million for the condo, about 7,500 square feet on four levels with a large rooftop deck. Represented by Michael Horwitz of Peak Properties, the condo is on an agents-only network now and will go on the wider multiple-listing service later in June.

The centerpiece of the unit is a stunning two-story living room with a tall stained glass window and a smaller one next to it, an arched white plaster ceiling, hand-carved animals on the walls above a built-in bench, and a hammered metal mantelpiece.

“It’s a piece of art,” Horwitz said. The sellers declined to comment. “On a sunny day when the light hits the stained glass,” Horwitz said, “it comes in and projects this colorful kaleidoscope into the room. It’s almost like you’re in a watercolor painting.” 

The layers of artful details and materials are primarily the work of Sol Kogen and Edgar Miller, School of the Art Institute classmates who beginning in 1927 turned an old Victorian house into a complex of artists studios along the lines of what Kogen had seen in Paris. Their fellow artists and architects, including Andrew Rebori and Jesus Torres, used mountains of salvaged and bargain-priced building materials to create unique glass, tile and wood details tnhat gave the apartments a joyfully colorful, proudly unusual look.

In the mid-1980s, Kogen’s daughter sold the rental building to a developer who converted them to condos, rehabbed them and brought in Miller to add more details in the original style. In 2003, that developer sold his home in the building, a combination of two units, to Shapiro and Farley. Soon after, they bought a third. The combination, entered through a courtyard where there’s a koi pond, is on four levels and is replete with the artists’ flourishes in virtually every room.   

The couple paid a total of $2.3 million to buy the units in 2003, according to the Cook County Clerk. Their asking price is about two-thirds of that. They had the home on the market in 2009, asking $2.6 million. For the past several years it has been rented to tenants, Horwitz said, and after the last moved out, the owners spent some time on rehab, such as replacing broken tiles, to get it ready for the market.

Wherever they made updates, such as in the kitchen and bathrooms, the couple took care to retain original finishes and use a complementary style with anything new, Horwitz said.

“They’ve spent a lot of time and money taking care of this,” Horwitz said. The property comes with a dining table and chairs that were custom-made for the dining room at some point, with repeating triangular trim that matches that on the room's built-in shelves.

The Carl Street Studios are on Burton Place; their name comes from an earlier name for the short street where other artful compounds were developed, including the Theophil Studios to their east.

Staying current is easy with Crain's news delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge. Click below to see everything we have to offer.

Get the best business coverage in Chicago, from breaking news to razor-sharp analysis, in print and online.

130 E. Randolph St. Suite 3200 Chicago, IL 60601 E-mail our editor (312) 649-5200