David Adler Designed This Lake Forest Coach House With a Five-Story Tower. Now It's a $2.5M Residence.

The Reddit title was "Detached Garage, Attached Tower" — and that is technically accurate. The Tower House at 51 S. Mayflower Road in Lake Forest was designed by David Adler in 1928 as the coach house for Alfred Hamill's Centaurs estate — originally comprising garages, servants' quarters, a dog trot, greenhouse, and shed. What Adler produced was a five-story Italianate tower that has since become one of Lake Forest's most celebrated architectural landmarks. It is now a 6,404-square-foot residence listed at $2,495,000, currently owned by acclaimed interior designer Kara Mann.

Five Floors of Adler

The main floor centers on a 45-by-14-foot family room with 11-foot ceilings, original brick and wood floors, coved ceilings, arched doorways, Art Deco-style tray ceilings, and Palladian-inspired arched windows and French doors that mirror each other in Adler's characteristic approach to symmetry. The chef's kitchen connects to a sun-drenched solarium — the only addition to Adler's original footprint — while a library with custom built-ins leads to a main-level guest suite. The second floor holds two primary suites and a renovated laundry room. The architectural journey continues upward into the tower: the third level has a fourth en-suite bedroom; the fourth level contains the Byzantine Room, featuring uniquely preserved murals by Russian-born artist Nicolai Remisoff — one of only two remaining examples of his work, the other being at the Lake Forest Library Rotunda. A fifth bedroom suite occupies the uppermost interior level. The rooftop terrace offers treetop views, Lake Michigan panoramas, and a distant Chicago skyline. Reddit's top commenter loved the tower bedrooms. The second commenter dreamed of sleeping there like a princess. The third noted that the wifi probably doesn't reach and you'd have to spend all day in the common room "like some kind of peasant." These are all reasonable positions.

The Opportunity

Kara Mann has developed detailed renovation plans to modernize the property while preserving its architectural integrity — an unusual advantage for a buyer inheriting a historic structure with complex infrastructure needs. The property sits on nearly an acre of wooded private grounds, accessible only through wrought-iron gates via a private courtyard. Annual taxes are $36,086 on an assessed value of $1,591,596. The detached two-car garage — which, in a different universe, is the reason this building exists — completes the property. At $2,495,000 for a David Adler landmark with Byzantine murals, Lake Michigan views, and a rooftop terrace, the Tower House is, as the listing puts it, one of Lake Forest's most significant Adler projects. The coach house surpassed the main estate. These things happen.

The Internet Has Thoughts

Naturally, this listing caught the attention of Reddit's r/zillowgonewild community. See what people are saying about it here.

Five stories, Byzantine murals by Remisoff, Lake Michigan views from the rooftop terrace, and a detached two-car garage. The coach house won. View the full listing here.