Retired Illinois Tool Works chairman and CEO W. James Farrell and his wife, Maxine, on Oct. 28 sold their seven-bedroom, 12,320-square-foot vintage mansion in Lake Forest for $2.78 million — some 60 percent less than they were hoping to get for it when they first listed it in 2014.
Records show that the buyer is an opaque land trust whose beneficiary could not yet be determined.
Built in 1929 and designed by architect Harrie T. Lindeberg, the three-story, English-style mansion recently has been renovated and has seven baths, seven fireplaces, a wine room, a second-floor family room, a library, an elevator and a breakfast room. The 2.05-acre property has a tennis court, a pool and an attached coach house.
Listing agent Marina Carney also represented the buyers and told Elite Street that “all parties to the transaction were happy.”
The Farrells first listed the mansion in May 2014 for just under $7 million and took it off the market later that year. They relisted it in 2015 and then cut their asking price to $6.35 million in 2016, $5.98 million in early 2017, $5.73 million in April 2017, $5.2 million in October 2017 and $4.95 million in September 2018. In June, they made their final price cut, to $4.5 million, but wound up accepting far less.
It’s not known if the Farrells still have a Chicago-area residence. They paid $9.95 million in January 2015 for a five-bedroom, 7,000-square-foot mansion in Hobe Sound, Florida.
W. James Farrell was ITW’s CEO from 1995 until 2005 and was the firm’s chairman from 1996 until 2006.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance reporter.
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