Crate and Barrel Home On Sale!

Crate and Barrel Home On Sale!

Crate and Barrel Home On Sale!

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Carole and Gordon Segal were a perfect match with common interests and creativity as well as business talent. They married young and honeymooned in Europe. While there, they were impressed with the clean lines of the furniture and home accessories they saw in many of the stores and immediately thought of opening something similar in the United States. They eventually found small European companies from which they could buy direct, eliminating the middlemen.

Gordon and Carole opened their first Crate and Barrel store on December 7, 1962,when they were only 23 years old, in the Old Town neighborhood of Chicago. It was an immediate hit! They named the store Crate and Barrel after the way merchandise was shipped. In order to emphasize the fact that it was imported, they put their merchandise displays on top of the crates surrounded by the packing material. They also grouped items that were related, thereby starting a new trend that was copied by other retailers.

By 1968 they opened their second store in the Chicago suburbs of Wilmette, Illinois and in 1971, a third store in Oak Brook, Illinois. By 1985 they had grown to 17 stores. After opening two more stores, they sold a majority share to a German mail order company, the Otto Group in 1998. That gave them the capital for further expansion. There are now over 170 stores in the United States and 11 more stores in Canada, Mexico, United Arab Emirates and Singapore. This year is their 51st in business.

Taking their creativity in another direction, they bought this house that they had loved from a distance for years. When the last owner wanted to tear it down, instead in 2008 they sold it to the Segals. Though the sellers had paid $5.493 million for the property only three years prior, they sold it to the Segals at an 18 percent loss.

The house was built in 1935 by Ralph D. Huszagh and sits on 2.4 acres. For four years, Carole renovated the property. She changed the entrance from the front to the back, turned the existing garage into a family room, added a new garage and then updated everything else. One very unusual feature is the large walled garden designed by Douglass Hoerr and the serpentine wall shape.

Although the Segals have not said how much the renovation cost, they put it on the market last year for $6.9 million. It was then taken off the market and relisted this April at $5.9 million. At 10,000 square feet, the home has 5 bedrooms, 7 baths, large rooms and windows.

This lovely Georgian-style home restored by Crate & Barrel owners, was $6.899 million – now on sale at $5.9 million.

Source: www.coldwellbankeronline.com