Grunsfeld was a prolific architect of modern homes in North Shore suburbs with a half-century of designs under his belt before his death in 2011. He was also a second-generation architect: His father, Ernest, designed two 1929 classics of Chicago, the Adler Planetarium and the former Michigan Boulevard Apartments, now named for Julius Rosenwald, the Sears chief and philanthropist who financed the project.
For the Masons’ lot on the rim of a wooded ravine in Highland Park, Grunsfeld designed a house where nearly every room has a wall of windows framing views into the trees.
“It’s like a park here, where we live in the trees,” Sandy Mason said. They moved in 19 years ago and say they still never tire of watching the colors change, the wildlife drift past and the stars above from their rooftop telescope pad.