Viewing all posts from the Lincoln Park neighborhood
John Morris
April 4, 2017
Gingerbread Gothic home at 1944 N Sedgwick will likely be destroyed [John Morris/Chicago Patterns]
In Chicago, as it is nationwide, demand for housing is outstripping supply. Speculators and wealthy individuals are eagerly rushing in to meet the top-end demand, leaving a trail of destroyed historic housing stock in their wake. Meanwhile, the supply of low and mid-range housing stock remains largely unaddressed.
This is often evident in real estate listing descriptions that say “the value is in the land,” for properties that exceed a million dollars with the implicit understanding that the home will be razed and replaced. This is playing out heavily in North Side neighborhoods like Lake View and Lincoln Park, where blocks of mostly new construction mega-mansions dot the landscape.
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Chicago Patterns Staff
January 5, 2017
Every year brings new buildings and the demolition of others–it’s the continuous cycle that transforms inanimate structures into the growing and evolving organism of a city. In times of wealth and prosperity the number of construction and demolition permits grow, and in times of recession they dwindle.
Last year this cycle repeated largely as it has in years past. But there were a few themes in the destruction of Chicago’s architectural heritage: late 19th century Worker’s Cottages, grand South Side homes, Italianate row houses, and a few sparkling Victorians on the North Side.
It wasn’t all losses in 2016–there were a few wins, particularly neglected or damaged churches that will live on through adaptive reuse.
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John Morris
August 8, 2016
![hudson [John Morris/Chicago Patterns]](http://chicagopatterns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/08/hudson-1-900x600.jpg)
hudson [John Morris/Chicago Patterns]
In our new series called
The Value is in the Land, we’ll look at historic homes and buildings which face an uncertain future as a result of their high-value location.
The first entry is 1953 N. Hudson Avenue, in Lincoln Park (pictured above). This circa 1893 Italianate home sits on a street filled with garish jumbo houses recently built, with a few original homes remaining.
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Rachel Freundt
March 23, 2016
![[Rachel Freundt/Chicago Patterns]](http://chicagopatterns.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/mcgaw_hall_1-900x664.jpg)
[Rachel Freundt/Chicago Patterns]
Last month DePaul University demolished McGaw Hall on their Lincoln Park campus for a new brick and glass building from Antunovich Associates that will house the university’s music school.
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