One of Racine’s most storied and lavish homes, a 9,173-square-foot mansion perched on the banks of Lake Michigan, now belongs to a Lake Geneva couple.
Peter and Karen Stein purchased the five-bedroom, six-bathroom home located at 3433 Michigan Blvd., for $1.27 million, according to state records.
The house, which sits on one acre of land, was completely renovated in 2008.
Brent Robertson, the Florida-based real estate broker who sold the property, said the Steins saw the property in an advertisement in the Wall Street Journal and walked through the home a week before the auction. The couple was one of 10 bidders on the property, which sold in 10 minutes, Robertson said.
“The house is beautiful, one of a kind, but one of the hard things about selling it was the taxes, which are about $50,000 a year,” Robertson said.
The property was last owned by the Bryan Hyndman Family Trust, which purchased it in 2015 for $1.5 million, and sold last month during an on-site auction by Naples, Florida-based Decaro Auctions International.
The house features a heated saltwater infinity swimming pool and waterfall overlooking the property’s 120 feet of private beach.
In addition to the outdoor features, the house also includes six fireplaces, a gourmet kitchen and butler’s pantry, a wine cellar and in-floor radiant heat in many of the rooms.
The home was built in 1930 by William H. Pugh, the founder of what would become W.H. Pugh Oil Co., and was the former residence of the CEO of Western Publishing Co., which published the first Little Golden Books in 1942.
Ed Lonergan, the retired CEO of Diversey Inc., and his wife, Laura, also have lived in the house. Lonergan sold the property in 2015.
