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Walking
tours of the Prairie Avenue Historic District are offered on the second
and fourth Sundays of July, August, and September. Visit the
Events page for more information. |
ABOUT
THE PRAIRIE AVENUE HISTORIC DISTRICT In the late 19th-century, the Prairie Avenue neighborhood was widely recognized as the city's most elegant address and the Prairie Avenue Historic District now stands as testimony to this glorious residential past. Perhaps nowhere else in the country has such a distinguished residential neighborhood succumbed so quickly to commercial redevelopment, resulting in demolition of most of the street's grand Victorian homes. The causes of urban change are complex. While Chicago burgeoned as a center of trade with its port, canal, and railroads, this south side area was slow to settle. As the site of the Fort Dearborn Massacre in 1812, initial development of the Prairie Avenue area may have been delayed by association with the event, but settlement on Prairie Avenue grew steadily after 1860 because of proximity to the city's growing business district. Between the Civil War and the Depression of 1873, houses were built on most available lots and by 1870 Prairie Avenue between 16th and 18th streets consisted of upper-middle-class Italianate-style residences. Chicago's Great Fire in October of 1871 did not affect Prairie Avenue directly, as it progressed no farther south than Harrison Street. However, many of the street's residents sold goods salvaged from their burned warehouses and businesses from their houses and coach houses. Prairie Avenue was hailed as the city's residential neighborhood of choice when entrepreneurs George Pullman and Marshall Field chose the street as the location for their new homes. The finest section of the street extended between 16th and 22nd streets, and housed other prominent Chicago businessmen including Philip Armour, William Kimball, and John Glessner. Home to so many of Chicago's merchant princes, the street was dubbed Palace Avenue and enjoyed its climax during the much-celebrated World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago in 1893. The north side eventually replaced Prairie Avenue as the city's neighborhood of choice. Even during Prairie Avenue's peak in the 1890s, soot, vibration, and noise from expanding commuter and freight railway lines annoyed residents, and commercial activity from the nearby Loop pushed southward toward Prairie Avenue. The Kodak Company built a factory on 18th and Indiana streets in 1905, designed by architects Hill & Woltersdorf, and, in 1915, the Hump Hair Pin Company Building by Chicago architect Alfred Alschuler became the first factory on Prairie Avenue. By the 1920s, many of Prairie Avenue's grand homes had become high-class rooming houses, and South Michigan Avenue became a strip of automobile showrooms. Only a few of Prairie Avenue's prominent residents remained in their Victorian neighborhood. Because of commercial intrusion, land in the Prairie Avenue neighborhood had a higher value without buildings on it, and most of Prairie Avenue's homes were torn down between the Great Depression and the 1960s. Those that remained were used as offices and businesses. In 1966, the John J. and Frances M. Glessner House was saved from demolition by a group of architects. In 1976 Glessner House received National Historic Landmark status. The listing of the remaining houses in the area on the National Register of Historic Places provided the impetus for creation of the Prairie Avenue Historic District in 1976. Happily, the district today is experiencing a boom, with a new generation of residents infusing the area with new vitality. The neighborhood that at the end of the last century was called "the sunny street that holds the sifted few" is once again home to up and coming young urban families. Some Things to See & Do While You're Here... Glessner House Museum, 1800 S. Prairie A National Historic Landmark. Designed by H.H. Richardson and built in 1887, Glessner House boasts a world class collection of 19th century decorative arts. This stately English Arts & Crafts home tells the story of Gilded Age Chicago. Tours Wed. - Sun. at 1, 2 & 3 pm. 312-326-1480. Clarke House Museum, 1827 S. Indiana Chicago's oldest house, situated in Chicago's Womens Park & Gardens, is a Greek Revival residence built in 1836. The mid-nineteenth century furnishings depict life on the urban frontier. Clarke House is owned and managed by the City of Chicago. Tours via Glessner House Museum, Wed. - Sun. at noon, 1 & 2 pm. 312-326-1480. Chicago Womens Park & Gardens, located south of 18th Street between Indiana and Prairie avenues This park commemorates the achievements of significant Chicago women and features a central fountain, a Women's Commemorative Path and beautiful gardens. National Vietnam Veterans Art Museum, 1801 S. Indiana Avenue Over 500 pieces of art by more than 95 artists, all of whom served in Vietnam, provide a powerful and unique museum experience. Open Tuesday - Sunday 11 am - 6 pm (Thursdays until 9 pm). 312-326-0270. Second Presbyterian Church, 1936 S. Michigan Avenue A National Historic Landmark. Extraordinary stained glass windows designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and Edward Burne-Jones and pre-Raphaelite murals by Frederic Clay Bartlett. Tours offered the first and third Saturday of each month at 11am and 12noon, and the second and fourth Wednesday at 12noon and 1pm. Call 800.657.0687 for further information and to confirm tour times. Blues Heaven Foundation, 2120 S. Michigan Avenue Willie Dixon's extraordinary educational and musical legacy, Blues Heaven Foundation invites you to learn about the roots and fruits of Chicago Blues by taking a tour of their studio, gallery and working headquarters in the landmark Chess Records Studios. Tours Monday - Saturday, noon - 2 pm. 312-808-1286. |
