Ex-CEO Buys Historic Lake Forest Mansion From Ex-CEO For $5.1 Million

LAKE FOREST, IL — An extensively restored historically significant Lake Forest mansion sold last month at $2.8 million below its initial asking price.

But the $5,175,000 closing price of the Dexter Cummings Estate at 1460 Lake Road is nonetheless about 13 percent above previous sale price of seven and a half years ago.

The original owners of the 1927-built property were Dexter Cummings, a two-time winner of the intercollegiate golfing championship in the 1920s, and his wife Emilie Hoyt.

The architect of the French Eclectic style mansion was Harrie Lindeberg, who also designed the Onwentsia Club, while its landscape architecture was designed Rose Standish Nichols, one of the nation's first women landscape architects, according to the History Center of Lake Forest/Lake Bluff.

The seven-bedroom, 13,000-square-foot house sits on a parcel of more than 2 acres on teh southwest corner of Cummings' father's 11-acre estate, known as Ioka, according to the history center.

Restorations and renovations on the house have preserved original features like its German silver hardware and custom millwork while updating it to suit a modern lifestyle, photos of the property show.

The seller was Spectre Interests LLC, which purchased the property for $4.55 million in December 2017. At the time, the LLC's manager was listed as Chase Lane Steer.

The house was first listed for nearly $8 million in November 2022. The price was reduced twice the next year before being slashed to just below $6 million in March. The sale closed on May 17.

The buyers were identified in county records as Joe Lionite and his wife, Coleen. Joe Liotine spent 18 years as an executive with Whirlpool Corporation, most recently as its president and chief operating officer, before he was appointed as CEO of Wauwatosa, Wisconsin-based lawnmower motor manufacturer Briggs & Stratton last August. He departed that job after just five months in the role.

There is currently low inventory and high demand for high-end real estate on the North Shore, so buyers must move quickly if they want to close deals, the listing agent told The Real Deal, which first reported the sale.