The mansion on the northwest corner of Astor Street and Burton Place was designed by architect Stanford White and built in 1893 for Joseph Medill. Joseph Medill owned the Chicago Tribune, and gave the home to his daughter, Elinor "Cissy" Patterson and her husband, Robert Wilson Patterson, as a gift. Robert Wilson Patterson later became publisher of the Chicago Tribune.

Publishing certainly runs in the Medill Patterson family. Cissy and Robert's son, Joseph Medill Patterson, founded the New York Daily News, while their daughter Alicia Patterson founded Newsday. Cissy, another daughter, founded the Washington Times Herald.

The home was sold to Cyrus McCormick, Jr., first president of International Harvester and son of the inventor of the reaper. He expanded the house to its current size in 1927.

In 1978, the Patterson-McCormick mansion was converted to luxury condominiums.