You may truly want to be an Oscar Meyer wiener, as everyone would be in love with you – but that wouldn’t place you in the lap of luxury which we find in the home of the late Oscar Mayer Sr., the one time heir to the Oscar Meyer fortune… (yes, the world-famous hot dog company has been around for over 100 years!)
All photos are used with permission from TopTenRealEstateDeals.com
He lived in this exquisitely styled three-story brick home in Evanston, IL from 1927 until 1965. Today, the home is up for sale at $2.8 million. The 7,401 square foot home boasts six bedrooms, five bathrooms, a chef’s kitchen, a billiard room, restored original stained glass windows and ornamental light fixtures, and much more.
The exterior of the home is exquisitely styled with red brick and stone outer buttressing, with curvaceous green lines running around the turret and balconies. Narrower than it is long, it looks quite humble when compared to its legacy and it even seems to suggest a touch of humor – quite appropriate for the house that Oscar Mayer wieners built!
The true size of the home only becomes fully apparent as we move into the interior of the home and down its long corridors.
Entrants will be immediately impressed at the sizable entryway. It features a turret-shaped lobby at the base of the turret which extends upward through the entire three-story height of the building. The floors are completely shining, dark, hardwood, and dark wood molding covers every edge and corner as well as running a crosshatch pattern over the ceiling. In between the details of the wood, framing is white plaster. The contrast between the plaster and molding is quite striking.
An ornate stairway climbs up to the second floor from this entrance area with three gently sloped flights of steps. It is a stairway that is ideal for aging occupants, like Mr. Meyer Sr., with its forgiving angle of ascent and sturdy banister going all the way up.
In what might be a living space, adjacent to the entry area, we find a large open, rectangular room with all white plaster and a massive fireplace at the far side. Our experience reviewing the homes of early 20th-century business tycoons suggests that this could be a daily rallying area for management-level employees. Such a thing would be superfluous today, but it is an intriguing reminder of the way business was done prior to the age of mass communication.
The kitchen is highly refined and very well equipped, but with none of the eccentricities, one might expect from the owner of the world’s largest hot dog manufacturing company. It is all white marble counter-tops, dark hardwood flooring, and pristine white cabinetry. The oven features old-world brass handles and knobs on its face, which is a terrific look, especially for a home of this style.
Source: tour.vht.com
