Edgecliff (aka the Max Epstein House) is a Samuel Abraham Marx–designed estate in

Winnetka, Illinois Winnetka () is a village in Cook County, Illinois, United States, north of downtown Chicago. The population was 12,475 as of the 2020 census. The village is one of the wealthiest places in the United States in terms of household income. It was ...

, in the wealthiest region of Chicago's affluent North Shore suburbs. It is notable for once having the highest residential property taxes in

Cook County, Illinois Cook County is the List of counties in Illinois, most populous county in the U.S. state of Illinois and the List of the most populous counties in the United States, second-most-populous county in the United States, after Los Angeles County, C ...

History

Edgecliff was commissioned by Max Epstein when he became chairman of General American Transportation Company in 1929. The building was completed in 1930 by Samuel Abraham Marx. Nathan Cummings, whose business became Consolidated Foods Corporation and then

Sara Lee Corporation The Sara Lee Corporation was an American consumer-goods company based in Downers Grove, Illinois. The Sara Lee name was used of a number of frozen and packaged foods, often known for the long-running slogan "Everybody doesn't like something, b ...

, purchased the building in 1954 from Epstein's estate. He, his daughter and son-in-law lived there until 1961 when Cummings relocated to New York after remarrying. His son-in-law, Robert Mayer, acquired the house in 1961 and added a art gallery along the south end of the estate. The property had several galleries when it was owned by Buddy and Robert B. Mayer. Terry McKay acquired the property in 1995 for $4.6 million. By 1996, he had removed the art gallery.

Description

The 4-1/5 acre (1.7 hectare) property contains the two-story main complex, which is fronted by matching

gatehouse A gatehouse is a type of fortified gateway, an entry control point building, enclosing or accompanying a gateway for a town, religious house, castle, manor house, or other fortification building of importance. Gatehouses are typically the most ...

s, a long driveway and forecourt, is described as inspired by the 17th- and 18th-century French

manor house A manor house was historically the main residence of the lord of the manor. The house formed the administrative centre of a manor in the European feudal system; within its great hall were usually held the lord's manorial courts, communal mea ...

s of

Normandy Normandy (; or ) is a geographical and cultural region in northwestern Europe, roughly coextensive with the historical Duchy of Normandy. Normandy comprises Normandy (administrative region), mainland Normandy (a part of France) and insular N ...

and the

Loire Valley The Loire Valley (, ), spanning , is a valley located in the middle stretch of the Loire river in central France, in both the administrative regions Pays de la Loire and Centre-Val de Loire. The area of the Loire Valley comprises about . It is r ...

s. The main building is flanked by one-story

Mansard roof A mansard or mansard roof (also called French roof or curb roof) is a multi-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope at a steeper angle than the upper, and often punctured by dormer wi ...

ed wings that are attached to the north and south ends of the main building; the property also includes gardens, a pool, gazebo, and several service buildings. The building has minimal exterior decoration and the interior is marked by

French door A door is a hinged or otherwise movable barrier that allows ingress (entry) into and egress (exit) from an enclosure. The created opening in the wall is a ''doorway'' or ''portal''. A door's essential and primary purpose is to provide securit ...

s. Located at 915

Sheridan Road Sheridan Road is a major north-south street that leads from Diversey Parkway (Chicago), Diversey Parkway in Chicago, Illinois, north to the Illinois-Wisconsin border and beyond to Racine, Wisconsin, Racine. Throughout most of its run, it is the ...

and sometimes referred to as the Max Epstein House, it was the eighth property designated as a Landmark by the Winnetka Landmark Preservation Commission. In 2014, eight of the ten highest property taxed residences in Cook County were in the North Shore villages of Winnetka and Glencoe. With a 2014 valuation of $12.2 million, Edgecliff had a

property tax A property tax (whose rate is expressed as a percentage or per mille, also called ''millage'') is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or Wealth t ...

of $294,001.88, making it the highest taxed residential property in Cook County. When Edgecliff repeated atop the Cook County property tax roll for 2015 with a bill of $300,439, it was one of five residences on Sheridan Road in Winnetka that made the top ten.

Notes

{{coord, 42.1173, -87.7340, type:landmark_region:US-IL, display=title French Renaissance Revival architecture Houses in Cook County, Illinois Houses completed in 1930 Winnetka, Illinois