Estate of Richard Driehaus lists his Lake Geneva mansion for $39M

The estate of investment manager Richard Driehaus, who died in March at age 78, placed his 12-bedroom Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on the market Friday for $39.25 million. The estate of investment manager Richard Driehaus, who died in March at age 78, placed his 12-bedroom Georgian-style mansion in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin, on the market Friday for $39.25 million.

The listing is a Lake Geneva record, and it stands as one of the highest asking prices in history in the Midwest. In Chicago, Richard Parrillo’s six-bedroom, 25,000-square-foot Lincoln Park mansion once was listed for $50 million and then was lowered to $45 million, and it’s nominally still on the market, although its agents aren’t allowing any showings.

Known today as Glenworth Gardens but originally known as Wadsworth Hall, Driehaus’ 14,145-square-foot Lake Geneva mansion is steeped in history. It was built in 1906 for noted banker and philanthropist Norman Wait Harris — also known as N.W. Harris — who was the namesake of the predecessor firm to Harris Bank. Harris named it Wadsworth Hall after his mother’s family. The mansion’s architect was the Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge firm, which among other structures designed the Cantigny mansion west of Wheaton for onetime Tribune co-owner Joseph Medill. The estate has an original landscape plan by Frederick Law Olmsted, and the property has 621 feet of lake frontage.

Harris died in 1916, and his estate sold the mansion around 1920 to Yellow Taxi Cab Company founder Walden W. Shaw, who renamed the mansion The Stenning after his ancestral home in England. The estate later was owned by Shaw’s son-in-law, Daniel F. Peterkin, who was the president of the Morton Salt Company, and then by Peterkin’s son, who also had been president of Morton Salt.

Driehaus bought the mansion from Peterkin’s heirs for $4.83 million in 1998, and he renamed it Glenworth Gardens and began throwing annual theme parties to which he invited about 600 people. The parties were capped by fireworks displays and attended by major stars, including Jay Leno and the Beach Boys.

Now, Driehaus’ foundation, which took possession of the mansion on Driehaus’ death, has decided to sell the mansion, which sits on 40 acres.

Representatives for Driehaus’ foundation were not immediately available for comment. Listing agent David Curry also was not immediately available for comment.

Before Driehaus’ mansion was listed, the highest-priced listing in Lake Geneva was the six-bedroom, 12,396-square-foot Villa Hortensia mansion on 20.5 acres that is just next door. The Villa Hortensia mansion is currently on the market for $20.75 million.

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