Chicago-area billionaire J. Christopher Reyes and his wife, Anne, are the mystery buyers who paid $36 million for the late investment manager Richard Driehaus’ 14,145-square-foot, Georgian-style mansion on 40 acres in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin.
With an estimated $7.1 billion net worth, according to Forbes magazine, J. Christopher Reyes, the co-chairman of privately held Rosemont-based beer and food distribution firm Reyes Holdings, is ranked as the 128th richest American, according to the magazine. Reyes and his wife long have had a home on a large parcel in east Lake Forest, and they also own a 9,000-square-foot-plus mansion on the Atlantic Ocean in Hobe Sound, Fla.
Walworth County deed records show that the Reyeses bought the 12-bedroom Lake Geneva mansion on Jan. 14 through an opaque Delaware limited liability company. Multiple sources also confirmed that they are behind the purchase.
Reyes did not respond to a request for comment made to his assistant at Reyes Holdings, and real estate agent David Curry, who represented both the Driehaus estate and the buyer, did not respond to a request for comment.
The sale made headlines both for the Driehaus estate’s $39.25 million asking price and also for the fact that it went under contract in less than three weeks and then sold for a Wisconsin state record of $36 million.
Known until recently as Glanworth Gardens but originally called Wadsworth Hall, the Lake Geneva mansion, on Snake Road, 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 one-time 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 Co. 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 Co., 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, renamed it Glanworth Gardens and began throwing annual theme parties to which he would invite as many as 600 people. The parties were capped by fireworks displays and attended by major stars, including Jay Leno and the Beach Boys.
Now, the Reyeses have given the mansion the name Ashburton. It has 121/2 bathrooms, 13 fireplaces, a grand staircase and entrance hall, a lakeside library with rich oak paneling and a kitchen with a La Cornue range and custom cabinetry. Outside on the property are a four-bedroom guesthouse, a carriage house, staff offices, a boathouse and a children’s village.
The Reyeses’ new mansion is a short distance down the shore from the vintage lakefront mansion owned by another Chicago-area billionaire, insurance magnate Pat Ryan.
Bob Goldsborough is a freelance writer.
Join our Chicago Dream Homes Facebook group for more luxury listings and real estate news.
