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The Record North Shore
Got $5 million? The ‘Home Alone’ house can be yours, ya filthy animal
By Zoe Engels,
2024-05-29
If you’ve ever wanted to live like Home Alone ’s Kevin McCallister, now’s your chance. For the first time since 2012, the movie’s iconic Georgian residence in Winnetka is on the market.
A popular spot for quick selfies and drive-by gawking, the property at 671 Lincoln Ave. sold to its current owners, Tim and Trisha Johnson, for a reported $1.58 million in 2012 and is now listed for a whopping $5.25 million .
“Sometimes we’ll hear the Kevin scream,” Trisha Johnson told Mansion Global of the film’s fans who pose outside their home. “It’s a lot of fun to see people as excited as they are, just to see my house.”
According to public information on the previous home listings, the five-bedroom, six-bath home was built in 1920 and first gained attention when its newly renovated kitchen, described by Vanity Fair as featuring “rust-colored mosaic floor tiling, track lighting and kelly green director chair seating,” was spotlighted in the September 1974 issue of Better Homes & Gardens magazine.
Then owners Kully and Carolyn Rohlen had remodeled the kitchen to accommodate frequent soup parties, which fittingly entailed plenty of soup and required center island space for canning.
John and Cynthia Abendshien purchased the home in 1988 and were the owners when location manager Jacolyn Bucksbaum asked to shoot “Uncle Buck “ at their home — that never happened, but instead, Kevin McCallistar quickly made himself at home at the Winnetka property. Filming was supposed to take six weeks but ended up taking six months.
This is the second time the Home Alone house has been on the market since the movie’s release in 1990. (Owned by the Abendshiens, and later, the Johnsons, it remains to be seen who will be next.)
The iconic home sits on a 0.53-acre lot. Katie Moor and Dawn McKenna of Coldwell Banker Realty are the real estate agents who have taken on the listing and, on their listing page , they call it a “legendary holiday dream home, reimagined for modern-day luxury.”
In 2018, the Johnsons fully renovated and expanded the home, taking care to preserve some of the most iconic spaces such as the foyer, entry staircase and living and dining rooms. The newly renovated spaces include a family room with high ceilings that leads into the backyard, a gourmet kitchen (now boasting two islands instead of one) with luxury appliances, a second family room off the kitchen and a screened-in porch.
The home is completely renovated; however, the iconic staircase and entryway are recognizable.
The finished and expanded basement now boasts a sports court and home theater, perfect for Home Alone movie marathons.
Trisha Johnson told Mansion Global that the theater contains a Lego replica of the house that the Johnsons built a few years ago as well as a large Kevin Lego figure that Lego themselves offered them. The Johnsons said they plan to leave both for the next homeowner.
According to Redfin, Winnetka home prices are down 4 percent compared to this time last year and are selling for a median price of $1.4 million. Luxury home markets such as Winnetka are facing an inventory crunch , meaning demand is exceeding supply amid what the Wall Street Journal calls a “historic decline” in luxury home listings.
Market conditions are prime for the Johnsons to sell, making way for the next Kevin McCallister and family to pass the gates, stroll up the six brick steps and walk through that iconic front door.
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