SOLD! A Stealthy, Groovy Don Tosi Home in Winfield
Ok. So, I should probably explain the headline. Let’s start with the “Stealthy” part…
If you already know the name Don Tosi, you may know two things about him: He was the contractor for Bruce Goff’s Ford house in Aurora, and he designed a bunch of modern & contemporary-style homes in the Chicago suburbs, many of which are in Naperville.
Tosi originally met Goff when he attended the Chicago Academy of Fine Arts, where Goff was a part-time teacher.
That student-teacher relationship, and Goff’s creativity, had a lasting effect on Tosi, who was quoted as saying that Goff was where Tosi gained his “most valuable knowledge of architectural design and construction.”
After working as the lead contractor on Goff’s Ford house, Tosi continued to work in the Aurora area, where he’s credited with designing and building 16 homes, all within about 1/2 mile of the Ford house.
Later, Tosi concentrated his practice on the Naperville area, but he also designed homes in other towns, including one I sold in North Barrington a few years ago (although the current owner and I suspect that the North Barrington home may, in fact, have been originally designed by Goff).
And then of course there’s the home we’re talking about today, at S070 River Lane in Winfield, originally designed for Mr. & Mrs. D’Arcy Randall.
As an interesting note on the history of the home, in 1973, in the Chicago Tribune’s “Home Style ’73” guide, the home was featured in a 2-page story that shared a few photos and talked about Mrs. Randall’s (she was never named in the article) love of art from all over the world. The author of the piece mentioned that the Randalls had Tosi design the house for them before they’d even found a lot on which to build it.
Many of Tosi’s homes feature similar elements, such as “floating” decks with walls at close to a 45-degree angle, A-frame style gables that may or may not be truncated at some point, substantial brick fireplaces and more.
Which brings us (back) to the “stealthy” part: You would be forgiven for glancing at the house from the street and thinking it’s some type of modified Tudor-style house, with it’s vertical cedar panels painted a dark contrasting color to the white paint on most of the rest of the house. And from the street, it almost looks like a ranch with a really tall roof.
But like many clever designs, it’s a home that hides its secrets. Take a closer look and you’ll notice two black brick masses set at an angle on the front of the house, flanking an angled “corner of glass” that juts out from the front of the house (off-center, of course) and also houses the front door.
This is your first set of clues that there’s something modern and special going on inside.
In fact, there’s something about the way Tosi designed the front elevation that belies the true scale of the home. What appears as a modest ranch from the street is actually a spacious, 2,620 square foot, 2-story home set on a very comfortable lot (about 6/10ths of an acre).
In some ways, the entry area for the home does share common elements with other Tosi designs: That corner of glass where the front door is is a shape found on a number of other homes designed by Don Tosi, and the angle of the brick walls that flank the entryway are set at the same angle, forming another, larger triangle that’s been truncated.
For the last 8 or 9 years, the home has been enjoyed by artists and art therapists Lesley & James.
“When we first saw the house,” says James, “we loved how it was set back further from the street. Also, the contrast of the white and black exterior and the subtle design angles of the front entryway were very appealing.”
“We were familiar with the Ford house that Don Tosi built for Bruce Goff,” says Lesley. “As we researched Tosi’s work after we bought the house, we found a community of Tosi homeowners online, and it was interesting learning more about him. According to the family who had the home built, it was the first Tosi home that did not feature an orange door (at the owners’ request). The black brick, though, is something that features in a lot of Tosi’s homes.”
Once you get closer to the front of the house there’s no mistaking you’re about to step into a home that’s not ordinary or cookie-cutter. Through the glass you can see that the ceilings inside follow the roofline, affording the entryway a generous height (it’s 16 feet at the highest point).
Open the door and you’ll find even more surprises: First, an open riser stairway that winds up (and down) around a central core that mimics the angles of the entryway. Keeping those stairs in place are elegant, narrow aluminum balusters with a sleek wood handrail at the top. The inside of the black brick walls house alcoves with built-in shelves for displaying art and other items.
While you couldn’t really call the home a time capsule (Lesley & James have made too many improvements for that to be the case) they have left much of the house original, aesthetically, because it was so beautifully designed. Walk around the right side of the stairway core and you’ll find yourself in a generously-sized, open plan living room / dining room, the star of which – and the first of the “groovy” aspects of the home – is the conversation pit that sits at the base of a black brick fireplace with a floating limestone hearth and substantial wood beams overhead. Here, again, the angle of the conversation pit mimics that of the entryway, and if you turn around, you’ll be looking into an alcove that shares the same geometry, clad in beautiful rosewood paneling.
Cleverly, Tosi designed the house with that same triangular form…fully resolved in some places, truncated in others…carrying through the home from front to back.
This consistency of theme in the architecture & geometry is one of the things that attracted Lesley & James to the house 9 years ago.
“We were specifically trying to find a mid-century modern house at the time, as we’re both very much interested in the aesthetic that many MCM homes share,” says Lesley. “The clean lines, interesting angles, and usage of different building materials like wood paneling and brick are appealing to us.”
Keep moving through the living room and you’ll be in the dining area, which is nice & bright, thanks to a triple set of sliders that lead out to the patio.
Turn once more and you’ll be in the kitchen, where we see more of the home’s original materials and decor.
In the kitchen, woodgrain cabinets are topped with Formica countertops in a perfect ’70s orange, while the dinette area has walls covered in a wonderful ’70s textured wallpaper (more of the “groovy” aspect). Of course, an intercom base station sits on the wall near the entrance to the dining area, as you’d find in any good 1970’s home. And the counter that the sink is in even has a built-in cutting board.
Off of the kitchen is a spacious laundry room, and down at the other end is the main level bathroom and the Primary Bedroom.
Again, it’s a clever design on Tosi’s part: The main level bathroom is split into two parts: There’s a “public” section that’s essentially a makeup or “getting ready” vanity, and a “private” section with a sink / toilet / walk-in shower. This bathroom really adds to the “groovy” – not only does it also have orange Formica countertops, but it has some fantastic metallic / foil wallpaper as well as some chrome fixtures that give it a more space age mod feel.
Immediately opposite the vanity area is the door into the Primary Bedroom, which has a huge walk-in closet that’s almost the full width of the bedroom itself. And the bedroom is quite large, especially for the early 1970’s. A set of sliders in this room leads out to a 3-season room.
“The 3 season room is a great space to relax and enjoy the sounds and views of nature,” says James. It’s one of the features we really appreciated when we first toured the house. It’s very enticing being under the canopy of mature trees in our yard and the immediate surrounding area.”
Lesley & James have the Primary bedroom set up as a family room and use the large walk-in as an office & library space because upstairs, there are three more bedrooms and they like the idea of being on the same floor as their kids.
At the top of the stairway, part of the “stairway core” functions as a small loft area, and it’s just past this small loft where the bedroom is that they’ve been using.
“When we first looked at the house before we bought it, we were really surprised at how big the bedrooms are at either end of the hall upstairs,” says Lesley. “And there’s even more room in the large attic spaces that we can access through a small door in our closet.”
At either end of the 2nd story, the bedrooms have a long closet that spans the entire width of the room. And in each of those closets, at the outside end, is a small door that leads to a rather large attic space. Currently they’re being used for storage, but Lesley & James have considered expanding the bedroom or opening up that area to reconfigure the space and potentially add another bathroom.
Between the two largest bedrooms is another bedroom and the 2nd story bathroom, this time with a blue theme and more great ’70s wallpaper. This is another one of the areas that Lesley & James improved, while trying to stick with the overall aesthetic, by using penny round mosaic tiles on the floor and an elongated hex tile in the shower & tub surround.
Outside, the home benefits from being somewhat central within the lot, from front to back. It gives the house some privacy from the street, since it’s set further back, but also still affords quite a spacious back yard, and plenty of outdoor entertaining space with the 3 season room plus both a concrete patio next to it, off of the dining room, along with a gravel patio next to that.
As mentioned earlier, the yard is peppered with large, mature trees that offer dappled shade during the warmer months.
“We would stay in this house forever,” adds James, “but our careers are pulling us to a different state.”
Lesley agrees: “We’ll miss the way our home creates a welcoming and visually interesting gathering space for family and friends. The abundant natural surroundings provide a more secluded environment that likens our home to a retreat.”
This property sold on June 30th, 2025.
