Remember that cool house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

May 26, 2009 4:21 PM

Remember that cool house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off? Yeah...well it's for sale. Great house as long as you don't have a frustrated teenager and a Ferrari.
posted by punkfloyd (76 comments total)

Oh dear, I really messed up my posting. Was hoping post on main page would be preceded by "Remember that cool house from Ferris Bueller's Day Off?" Sorry long day.
posted by punkfloyd at 4:26 PM on May 26

I heard that if Cortex props you up and puts you in reverse, your post count will go back down.
posted by self at 4:27 PM on May 26 [17 favorites has favorites]

OK, talk to you later.
posted by dersins at 4:28 PM on May 26

if you have the means, I highly recommend it.
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:30 PM on May 26 [22 favorites has favorites]

Are you serious? I could get like 9 Blade Runner blaster guns for that kind of money.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:33 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

My theory is that this house only exists in the mind of Ferris' house.
posted by Rock Steady at 4:37 PM on May 26 [8 favorites has favorites]

Whoever buys it will have a more interesting house tour to give than me.

"And there's the window that the Ferrari went through..."
posted by Joe Beese at 4:38 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

Hmm... asking price, $2,300,000? Damn, I'm about thirty seven dollars short. Otherwise, I'd go for it.

And anyway, I'm not sure I could get my Bentley through the front door. It's bigger than a Ferrari...
posted by flapjax at midnite at 4:38 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

kuujjuarapik: or about a hundred DeLoreans

On the other hand, the house's garage will acommodate a real Ferrari (not included), while the DeLorean will not travel back in time, and the blaster gun will not stop psycho robots.
posted by qvantamon at 4:40 PM on May 26

I hope they cleaned up the mess down the hill. Nothing puts me off a house more than a smashed up Ferrari, I goddamn hate that.
posted by daveyt at 4:41 PM on May 26

This is the second "straight from Fark"post I saw on the blue today.

Which is not to presume that's what either poster did, but just noting.
posted by Lacking Subtlety at 4:42 PM on May 26

One further caveat: It's very beautiful and very cold, and you're not allowed to touch anything.
posted by gompa at 4:42 PM on May 26 [21 favorites has favorites]

daveyt: "I hope they cleaned up the mess down the hill."

That's what's so weird about this. "This house was expensively damaged" isn't usually a selling point.
posted by Joe Beese at 4:43 PM on May 26

I'll give you $1.9m for it, what with that small crack in the window there.
posted by XQUZYPHYR at 4:43 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

This is the second "straight from Fark"post I saw on the blue today.

Should we leave, before you have to get snooty?
posted by drjimmy11 at 4:43 PM on May 26 [7 favorites has favorites]

i hear the local school administrators aren't very trustworthy.
posted by Hammond Rye at 4:45 PM on May 26 [4 favorites has favorites]

I'd just as soon play it safe and drink 766,666 cups of coffee, while using the leftover change for gum.
posted by Smart Dalek at 4:52 PM on May 26

It used to have bi-level parking. Harf harf.
posted by Ron Thanagar at 4:53 PM on May 26

So did the bank foreclose on Cameron's dad, or is this just an elaborate way for a now-middle-aged Cameron to get back at his parents while they're away on vacation?
posted by zippy at 4:56 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

Hmm... asking price, $2,300,000? Damn, I'm about thirty seven dollars short. Otherwise, I'd go for it.

I have thirty-seven dollars! Maybe we could do a timeshare? I'll have it from Wednesday 23 August, 9.30am til 9.42am, and you can have it the rest of the time.
posted by Sova at 4:57 PM on May 26 [6 favorites has favorites]

In today's housing market, there's a Fiero in the garage.
posted by Jon-o at 4:58 PM on May 26

It's very beautiful and very cold and you're not allowed to touch anything.

That said, I'd buy it. But not from this agent, because...

...cantilevered over the ravine, these two steel and glass buildings, which can never be duplicated...

... uhh, all I'd need is a cantilever, a ravine, steel and glass.

And Mia Sara's phone number. Did you catch her in Birds of Prey? Mia's still got it going on...
posted by Cool Papa Bell at 4:59 PM on May 26 [3 favorites has favorites]

I think it's ugly, and I can't imagine how it would ever feel like living in a home.
posted by paisley henosis at 5:03 PM on May 26

So... How much for one bathroom then? Or, a toilet?
posted by Flex1970 at 5:10 PM on May 26

I think it's ugly, and I can't imagine how it would ever feel like living in a home.

It's a bit of a copycat design...

Personally, I think it's gorgeous. It wouldn't feel like living in a house; it would feel more like living in a forest, which would be awesome.
posted by mr_roboto at 5:10 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

$2,300,000? Say what? Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks from those pictures the house consists of a kitchen and a living room. That's it. I imagine there's a toilet around somewhere, but what about sleeping? Does it have a Pullman bed or something?
posted by zardoz at 5:12 PM on May 26

Aside from the movie connection, it's a beautiful house in a beautiful location. If I had that kind of money, I'd be tempted.
posted by LastOfHisKind at 5:12 PM on May 26

It's a pretty classic modernist design, and yeah it would be unbelievably awesome to live in even if it weren't so famous. I seriously think my love of modernism stems, at least in part, from that movie.
posted by jimmythefish at 5:13 PM on May 26

If I had that kind of money, I'd be at least $2.3m richer.
posted by qvantamon at 5:14 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

$2,300,000? Say what? Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks from those pictures the house consists of a kitchen and a living room. That's it. I imagine there's a toilet around somewhere, but what about sleeping? Does it have a Pullman bed or something?

4 bed, 4 bath, 5300 sq. ft. I think you'd get by OK.
posted by jimmythefish at 5:16 PM on May 26

If it seems a little small from the outside, the reason is the exterior shot is of the garage, the house is a separate building.
posted by Badgermann at 5:16 PM on May 26

I think it's ugly, and I can't imagine how it would ever feel like living in a home.

I'm guessing it's one bed one bath? In one of the pics I can see a smaller closed off area, but other than that it looks like it's all living / recreation space. In one of the pics there it looks like they've parked a car inside. The fah?

All up, I don't quite get it.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:18 PM on May 26

If it seems a little small from the outside, the reason is the exterior shot is of the garage, the house is a separate building.

That makes more sense, cheers Badgermann. I really should have read the specs more closely.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:24 PM on May 26

- Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks from those pictures the house consists of a kitchen and a living room. That's it. I imagine there's a toilet around somewhere, but what about sleeping?

- I'm guessing it's one bed one bath?

Do you guys have reading comprehension issues?

Property Features
* Single Family Property
* Status: Active
* Area: Highland Park
* County: Lake
* Year Built: 1953
* 4 total bedroom(s)
* 4 total bath(s)
* 4 total full bath(s)
* 8 total rooms
* Approximately 5300 sq. ft.
* Master bedroom is 20X18, on the Main Level, Carpet Flooring, Window Treatments in the Master Bedroom, Master Bedroom Bath
* Living room is 40X25, on the Main Level, Carpet Flooring, Window Treatments in the Living Room
* Dining room is on the Main Level, Carpet Flooring, Window Treatments in the Dining Room
* Family room is 42X35, on the Main Level, Window Treatments in the Family Room
* Kitchen is 20X16, on the Main Level, Vinyl Flooring, Window Treatments in the Kitchen, Eating Area-Table Space
* Fireplace(s)

posted by dersins at 5:25 PM on May 26 [5 favorites has favorites]

Yeah, but I hear it's in a bad school zone. They'd have to knock off at least, say, two million before I'd consider it.
posted by misha at 5:27 PM on May 26

Kitchen is 20X16, on the Main Level, Vinyl Flooring, Window Treatments in the Kitchen, Eating Area-Table Space

What, they couldn't spring for tile in the kitchen?!!
posted by misha at 5:29 PM on May 26

It's a very popular house, Ed. The sportos, the motorheads, geeks, sluts, bloods, waistoids, dweebies, dickheads - they all adore it.
posted by digsrus at 5:31 PM on May 26 [7 favorites has favorites]

WTF is wrong with you people? Isn't this the jaded Madonna bought a $40mm house over a subway crowd? My God, the tiny one bedrooms at 1481 Fifth Avenue in Harlem start at $2150.

Here you get a house! With bedrooms! And a garage! And a cool story!

Don't tell me everything should be $300k if it isn't Manhattan/Williamsburg, and I better not get any stink eyes from the "I spend 50% of my take home pay for my studio apartment, but it's New Yawk crowd."
posted by geoff. at 5:31 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

For the record, I came aross the story here. So fark you.
posted by punkfloyd at 5:32 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

Property Features: coal chute, diamond vault.
posted by zippy at 5:33 PM on May 26 [4 favorites has favorites]

Maybe I'm missing something, but it looks from those pictures the house consists of a kitchen and a living room.

Do you have reading comprehension issues, dersins? :)

I, too, went straight for the purdy pictures [real purdy yuk yuk]. I'm a very busy man, don'tcha know? They could have told a much better story, and should have.

Terrible selection by the realtor.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 5:36 PM on May 26

Any Chicago-area mefites willing to vandalize the property repeatedly until I can somehow afford it?

(kidding, for any investigators watching/investigating any actual vandalism)
posted by Navelgazer at 5:38 PM on May 26

Are you serious? I could get like 9 Blade Runner blaster guns for that kind of money.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 4:33 PM on May 26

"You, sir, are an asshole!" (go 31 seconds in...)
posted by njbradburn at 5:39 PM on May 26

More/better pictures here (from the Sotheby's listing), which given a better idea of the house's size.
posted by mullacc at 5:40 PM on May 26

Terrible selection by the realtor.

Agreed. A realtor with priorities so far out of whack doesn't deserve such a fine listing.
posted by Dr. Zira at 5:43 PM on May 26 [4 favorites has favorites]

This is the second "straight from Fark"post I saw on the blue today.

We got tired of lifting posts from BoingBoing.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:45 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

I don't get it.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 5:45 PM on May 26

I would buy it, but somehow my Chevy Cobalt would look a little gauche in the garage.
posted by mrmojoflying at 5:54 PM on May 26

As viewed from the Googlemobile.
posted by prinado at 5:56 PM on May 26

You can buy it, but you're not allowed to touch anything.
posted by bwg at 6:04 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

> For the record, I came aross the story here. So fark you.

You mean fark me! That's one cool website.

Thanks!
posted by Mephisto at 6:05 PM on May 26

Just for the record, the car in the movie was actually 4 copies of the same kit car. No actual Ferarri's were used or harmed in the making of Ferris Bueller's day off.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 6:20 PM on May 26

I’d buy it, but the police told me I was banned from being in Highland Park when I was a kid (note: don't lie to recreation supervisors about your boating experience. Or your residency. Also, don't lose their sailboats.). So I’d have to check. Oh, and have $2.3 million dollars.

“Any Chicago-area mefites willing to vandalize the property repeatedly until I can somehow afford it?”

I’m on it. F'ing 'A. All that glass - yeah.

"(kidding, for any investigators watching/investigating any actual vandalism)"

Oh. I get it. Right. Sure thing. *wink* That’s why I won’t go vandalize it.
Seriously. Put your mind at ease. It’s got nothing to do with you. We don’t even know each other. I’ve never heard of metafilter.
I’m not going to do it. Seriously. *nod*
Really.
Just going for some, uh, gum.
posted by Smedleyman at 6:23 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

cantilevered over the ravine

I was wondering about that. From the pics on the site it looks as if it's on stilts, and not cantilevered.
posted by carter at 6:28 PM on May 26

Enjoy your gum, Semdleyman. Just don't do anything I wouldn't do, or half-assedly commission others to do for me...
posted by Navelgazer at 6:44 PM on May 26

Why is it that $2.3 million dollar house listings always look like a Craigslist ad for a broken $2.30 saxophone? The Internet has been around 15 years and we STILL don't have sleek, elegant, and informative real estate listings?
posted by crapmatic at 6:49 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

It's lovely! I'll take it! by metafilter's own
posted by The Whelk at 6:56 PM on May 26

The $2.3M doesn't seem ridiculous when it costs $2.5K to rent Farnsworth House for three hours. But that vinyl floor in the kitchen better be some special high quality or I'll expect a thousand dollar decorating credit at closing.
posted by readery at 7:01 PM on May 26

LOL @ Farnsworth House flood mitigation ideas link. Talk about ruining something by putting it in the wrong place. I had a lead once on a really nice tract, about 10 acres of beautiful first-growth hardwood forest with a creek meandering through it in southern Mississippi. It would have been like having my own nature preserve. But as I studied the USGS topo maps, I realized that if there was enough rain there was nowhere for miles for the water to go.

On this basis, Farnsworth House == FAIL. I don't care how beautiful it is, if it is guaranteed to flood periodically, you do not want anything to do with it.
posted by localroger at 7:40 PM on May 26

From the pics on the site it looks as if it's on stilts, and not cantilevered.

Correct - the agent is out to lunch. This is cantilevered. (and FrankLloydWright awesome).
posted by CynicalKnight at 8:13 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

"No actual Ferarri's were used or harmed in the making of Ferris Bueller's day off."

No actual Ferrari's what?
posted by mr_crash_davis mark II: Jazz Odyssey at 8:32 PM on May 26 [1 favorite has favorites]

All that glass + Illinois winters = high heating bill.
posted by wuwei at 9:19 PM on May 26

I don't trust this agent any further than I could throw her.
posted by raysmj at 9:25 PM on May 26

It's a bit of a copycat design...

Form follows function. Or so they say.

The co-architect, A. James Speyer, was one of the first American students of Mies van der Rohe. The other, David Haid, was also a Mies protege.

Speyer decided to study with Mies at IIT, and adopted the Miesian philosophy that "less is more." ... The houses in Chicago and Pittsburgh that Speyer designed between 1947 and 1963 bear the deep imprint of Mies van der Rohe. Like Mies's perfected building form, Speyer's houses are rectilinear structures of exposed steel beams supporting vast expanses of glass or infilled with brick, all enclosing open spaces that flow into each other, rather than being carved into discrete, wall-bounded rooms.

Although Speyer frankly acknowledged his debt to Mies, he also departed from his teacher's model in ways that mark his own designs as unique.... Like any good student, Speyer critiqued what he had been taught, and then turned the lessons to his own account. -- Less Was More for A. James Speyer

Speyer ended his career not as an architect or academic, but as a curator of modern art at the Art Institute of Chicago ... which was also in the film.
posted by dhartung at 9:27 PM on May 26 [2 favorites has favorites]

An attempt at levity, my dear mcdmiijo, perhaps a failed one.
posted by Antidisestablishmentarianist at 9:47 PM on May 26

With my bad knee, though ...
posted by raysmj at 10:34 PM on May 26

As cool as I think this is, that price is insane. The master bathroom picture shows a bent leg supporting the countertop (no cabinets or anything), the guest bedroom has accordian doors, and the kitchen looks borrowed from a RV. As cool as the windows are, they view other houses. It was built in 1953, and it shows. In my fantasy world, I'd haggle down to under two million and still insist on an all modern interior design to go along with its fame.
Not to snark, but I have to wonder if it was only used in the film because it's been on the market for that long because of a ridiculous asking price. Seriously, did you see the master bathroom?
posted by hypersloth at 11:20 PM on May 26

In addition to the changes listed by hypersloth, I would also want insulation in the floor and ceiling to the maximum possible, triple glazing including internal blinds on all external glass and replacement of the heating system with underfloor heating.

Then I would start to negotiate.
posted by asok at 4:33 AM on May 27 [1 favorite has favorites]

Yeah, but I hear it's in a bad school zone.

All kidding aside, when I was a kid I lived just up the street (my father was the Highland Park Park superintendent and they provided the director a house they owned). My borther and I were the only goyem in the elementary school. I had to explain what X-mas was to my first grade class and, perhaps more embarrasingly, had to solo the one Christmas song we performed at the wintertime "Holiday Festival" for parents. As you can imagine, after the "ethnic" kid had his moment, we brought the house down with Dreidle, Dreidle, Dreidle.
posted by Pollomacho at 4:54 AM on May 27

Oh, for any of you that are confused by my other previous stories of growing up in the rural south, it was immediately after this that we moved to the rural south for more bizarre childhood experiences. Yes, the transition from living next to bajillion-dollar homes owned by jewish bankers to bajillion-termite homes owned by unemployed truck mechanics was rather stark.
posted by Pollomacho at 4:57 AM on May 27

When visiting Lake Forest College for a prospective student weekend, this house was pointed out to me by at least 60% of the people I met. Cool, but you'll have drunken college students walking by at all hours.
posted by Coffeemate at 6:53 AM on May 27

Nice house. If you wanted a second home in the country, you could have bought this one that featured in Withnail and I for much less... although, the fuel and wood situation isn't overly good.
posted by The Ultimate Olympian at 7:18 AM on May 27

Too bad they aren't auctioning it.

"Two million three hundred thousand. For the second time, two million three hundred thousand. Do I hear anyone? Anyone?
posted by MuffinMan at 1:41 PM on May 27

Funny you should mention WITHNAIL AND I... that's looks to be going back up for sale!

metafilter timeshare yall timeshare timeshare timeshare yall

"Withnail farmhouse sale falls through"
posted by Hammond Rye at 7:22 PM on May 27

Superb work, MuffinMan! You win the "funniest Ferris Bueller quote" prize for this thread.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 8:08 PM on May 27

Help us solve the issue of flooding which plagues the Farnsworth House. Review background information and directions on how to submit your idea.

Here's my plan: move the house.
posted by deborah at 12:30 AM on May 29