Riverside couple lists 120-year-old Joseph L. Silsbee House

RIVERSIDE

When Danny Jisa was a kid playing football for St. Mary’s team in Longcommon Park, he would stare at the stately three-story Silsbee house across the street.

“I’m going to buy that house someday,” he would say to himself.

He grew up and did buy the house with his wife, Caitie. The Jisas have lived there for more than six years with their four children. But dreams change and the 120-year-old Joseph L. Silsbee House, with 20 rooms and a layout perfect for kids to play hide-and-seek, is on the market for $1.8 million.

This won’t be the first time the Jisas have sold a home in the historic village. This is their third home; it was purchased in 2009 for $1.45 million. The first house was owned by Danny, a day trader by profession, when the couple were first married. It was an arts and crafts style home on Shenstone Road, just around the corner from where they live today. They sold it in 2007 and bought a 140-year-old Italianate-style home on Herrick Road.

“Our previous home was really cool,” Danny said. “It was a great house. We did a lot of updating, new garage. It had a huge yard.”

Then the Silsbee House came up for sale, the home Danny vowed to buy some day when he was just a kid.

“We were kind of torn when we bought this house,” Caitie said, “We talked about it for a month and we felt that we had to do it.”

There’s a couple of reasons why the Jisas change their Riverside address every once in a while, and may do it again.

“There’s a house we got a line on,” Caitie said. “And the market is picking up in Riverside and it seemed like it was a good time to do it.”

Caitie added the process of looking for, purchasing, and selling a home is made all the more easy by the fact her mother-in-law, Judy Jisa, is a real estate agent of note in the village.

While Danny and Caitie may get the jones to move to another house from time to time, they like Riverside to be their community.

While her husband is a son of Riverside, Caitie, a native of Barrington, said she never heard of Riverside until the couple met.

“I really think Riverside is a hidden gem in Chicagoland,” Caitie said. “It’s just 20 minutes to downtown Chicago. There are so many cool homes, winding streets and parks, and a rich history. We have a lot of friends in Riverside. They fell in love with the town. I think a lot of people can thank Danny’s mother for finding Riverside.”

Sidebar

Danny and Caitie Jisa submitted an application to the Riverside Planning and Zoning Commission to subdivide their 33,000-square-foot parcel of land where their 120-year-old home built by historic architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee sits.

On Aug. 26, they discovered their idea to subdivide the property for another lot was not a popular one in the community.

The Jisas appeared at the Planning and Zoning Commission meeting to find a packed audience vocally opposed to the idea. The commission voted 6-0 to recommend the Village Board deny the Jisa’s request.

Danny Jisa said he was merely following the protocol established to subdivide the land, which would separate tax bills and make his property more viable as an investment.

He emphasized he has no plan to build on the site.

“We wouldn’t want to take anything from the home or the village by doing what we want to do,” he said. “We’re still going to take it to the Board of Trustees.”

Caitie Jisa said they were just trying to follow the rules set by the village in applying for the subdivision of their lot.

“It’s tough to sit there to hear people tell you what you could do with your own property,” she said.