Robb Report | James Thomas
This Sophisticated Chicago Maisonette Is Bursting With Bold Color
When James Dolenc and Tom Riker, co-founders of Chicago-based studio James Thomas, were approached for a project in 2023 by a prominent Chicago-based couple, they were given one rule: It can’t look like everyone else’s home.
The home is the sole maisonette in a Lucien Lagrange-designed complex in the city’s tony Gold Coast neighborhood, where the leafy, tree-lined streets are comprised of a mixture of grand mansions, historic row houses, and high-rise apartments. The couple, who maintain multiple homes, sought to replace the apartment’s luxurious but ordinary existing interiors with something totally unique, using their contemporary art collection as the driving force. The wife, part of a generational real estate development business, is familiar with luxury design, and as someone who has seen it all, tapped the design duo to push the envelope. The residence, which has the only private courtyard in the building, has five bedrooms, though three of them are used as a gym, an office, and a playroom for their grandchildren.
