A four-bedroom, contemporary-style house in Flossmoor that was once the home of the late architect Robert Wesley, who was the first Black partner of architectural firm Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, will come back on the market in April for $749,000, its owners said.
Built in the mid-1970s, the house was designed by Wesley, who became Skidmore’s first Black partner in 1984.
Wesley, who died in January at age 88, worked on a host of important local and regional projects, including Orchestra Hall, Elmhurst University’s performing arts center, the Toledo Museum of Art in Ohio and projects for Northwestern University, the University of Chicago, a State Street renovation and the Lakefront Millennium Project.
Set on a 0.75-acre lot, the house has four bedrooms, 3½ bathrooms, two fireplaces, a living room with a two-story wall of glass, a fireplace, an art studio, a screened porch, a wraparound deck and two primary suites.
Current owners Cynthia Ramsey Nolan and her husband, Tom, bought the home in 2002 from Wesley and his wife, Wilma.
“What drew us to this house, No. 1, was that it was designed by a regionally significant architect. We had lived in a house in Dallas designed by a regionally significant architect, and my wife got transferred up here — otherwise, we’d still be in Dallas,” Tom Nolan told Elite Street.
“We were looking to replicate the home in Dallas and while you obviously can’t do that, this was the next best thing,” he said. “We shopped the North Shore and couldn’t find anything noteworthy that wasn’t $3 million or $4 million, and we finally found this house and liked the aspect of being able to bring it back and kind of modernize it. Plus, it has a really nice lot.”
Cynthia Ramsey Nolan added that she and her husband liked the diversity of Flossmoor, plus the fact that, although the house is located in a neighborhood, it feels private.
“Because there are so many oversized windows, I like that the outside comes into the interior,” she said. “We did lots of entertaining, and this is a terrific house for entertaining purposes.”
Laurie Mead of @properties will have the listing.
The couple first listed the house last year for $799,000 and later reduced their asking price to $749,000 and then to $724,000 before taking it off the market in January. They said they want to sell the house because they are considering moving downtown.
The house had a $7,865 property tax bill in the 2024 tax year.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
