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“This place had a story already. I feel like we’re just the editors of it,” says Graham Kostic of the historic property in Barrington Hills, Illinois (a small hamlet about an hour northwest of Chicago), where he lives with his husband, Fran Taglia, and their son, Romeo. Listening to Kostic—when he’s not transforming a home and raising a child, he serves as the choreographer for the local high school’s fine arts department—you feel a near-immediate inclination to settle in. Because he’s not simply rattling off real-estate listing details but rather recounting an enchanting tale—one in which the protagonist happens to be a house.
Named Hilltop House for its elevated position on the land, the structure was…
