Gold Coast Historic District (Chicago)

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Gold Coast Historic District
Chicago (ILL), Near North Side, John Hancock Center, 1970. " The Gold Coast " (4825109978).jpg
Gold Coast's Oak Street Beach
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LocationRoughly bounded by North Ave., Lake Shore Dr., Clark and Oak Sts., Chicago, Illinois
Coordinates 41°54′21″N87°37′41″W / 41.90583°N 87.62806°W / 41.90583; -87.62806
ArchitectMcKim, Mead & White; multiple
Architectural style Moderne, Italianate, Queen Anne
NRHP reference No. 78001121
Added to NRHPJanuary 30, 1978 [1]

The Gold Coast Historic District is a historic district in Chicago, Illinois. Part of Chicago's Near North Side community area, it is roughly bounded by North Avenue, Lake Shore Drive, Oak Street, and Clark Street.

Contents

The Gold Coast neighborhood grew in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire. In 1882, millionaire Potter Palmer moved to the area from the Prairie Avenue neighborhood on the city's south side. He filled in a swampy area which later became Lake Shore Drive, and built the Palmer Mansion, a forty-two room castle-like structure designed by Henry Ives Cobb and Charles Sumner Frost. Other wealthy Chicagoans followed Potter into the neighborhood, which became one of the richest in Chicago.

In the late 1980s, the Gold Coast and neighboring Streeterville comprised the second most-affluent neighborhood in the United States, behind Manhattan's Upper East Side. [2] Today, the neighborhood is a mixture of mansions, row houses, and high-rise apartments. Highlights include the Astor Street District and the James Charnley House.

The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. [1] [3]

The nearby East Lake Shore Drive District and parts of northern Streeterville and the Magnificent Mile near the lake also may be considered part of the Gold Coast (such as the area around the 860-880 Lake Shore Drive Apartments), even if not technically in the historic designation. [4] The mayor's office map extends the Gold Coast south to the area of Northwestern University's Chicago campus.

As of 2011, Gold Coast ranks as the seventh-richest urban neighborhood in the United States with a median household income of $153,358. [5]

Photos

Historical images of Chicago's Gold Coast can be found in Explore Chicago Collections, a digital repository made available by Chicago Collections archives, libraries and other cultural institutions in the city. [6]

Chicago Gold Coast from North Avenue Beach looking south. Chicago from North Avenue Beach June 2015 panorama 2.jpg
Chicago Gold Coast from North Avenue Beach looking south.

Education

Aerial view of the Ogden International School East (elementary) campus Ogden Elementary School (6078314425).jpg
Aerial view of the Ogden International School East (elementary) campus

Chicago Public Schools (CPS) operates public schools serving the community. [7] Ogden International School of Chicago has its East Campus, which houses elementary school, [8] in the Gold Coast. [9]

Residents of the Gold Coast are zoned to Ogden School for grades K-8, [10] while for high school they are zoned to Lincoln Park High School. [11] Any graduate from Ogden's 8th grade program may automatically move on to the 9th grade at Ogden, but students who did not graduate from Ogden's middle school must apply to the high school. [12]

The Latin School of Chicago is also located in the Gold Coast and is one of the nation's most prestigious K-12 private schools.

Notable residents

Gold Coast has a long tradition of being home to some of the nation's wealthiest and influential residents. These include:

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George Wellington "Cap" Streeter was an American who became infamous in Chicago for his real estate schemes and oftentimes bizarre eccentricity. From 1886 to 1921, Streeter, often through forgery and other manipulative means, attempted to lay claim to 186 acres (0.75 km2) of Lake Michigan shoreline from various owners. Failing in his efforts to defraud wealthy landowners, he turned to selling the disputed land to uninformed buyers. A portion of the real estate near downtown Chicago, known as Streeterville is named for him.

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Edward Jenner School, also known as Edward Jenner Elementary Academy of the Arts, was a public PK-8 school located in the Cabrini-Green area of the Near North Side, Chicago, Illinois, United States. Named after Edward Jenner, The school was opened and operated by the Chicago Public Schools (CPS). Jenner merged with Ogden International School in September 2018. The campus is now Ogden International–Jenner which serves grades Pre–K, 5th through 8th.

References

  1. 1 2 "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places . National Park Service. April 15, 2008.
  2. Don DeBat and Gary S. Meyers. "Manhattan transfer–Streeterville and the Gold Coast : Second plushest neighborhood in U.S. has it all". Chicago Sun-Times . January 13, 1989. 15.
  3. National Register of Historic Places in Cook County. Retrieved on June 12, 2008.
  4. "Chicago neighborhoods" (PDF). City of Chicago. Retrieved April 16, 2010.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. "The Richest Urban Neighborhoods In America". Business Insider . Archived from the original on May 20, 2022.
  6. Long, Elizabeth. "A Single Portal to Chicago's History". The University of Chicago News. Retrieved September 17, 2016.
  7. "Map." Gold Coast Neighbors Association. Retrieved on December 21, 2016.
  8. Home. Ogden International School of Chicago. Retrieved on October 10, 2018. "Head of Elementary: [...] Grades K-4 East Campus 24 W. Walton St. Chicago, IL 60610"
  9. Matthews, David (November 1, 2016). "Ogden-Jenner Merger Is Best For Both Schools, New Study Says". Archived from the original on December 21, 2016. Retrieved December 21, 2016.
  10. "Near North/West/Central Elementary Schools Archived June 12, 2009, at the Wayback Machine " (Archive). Chicago Public Schools. May 17, 2013. Retrieved on May 25, 2015.
  11. "HS North/Near North." Chicago Public Schools. 2013. Retrieved on September 30, 2016.
  12. "Admissions". Ogden International School. Retrieved April 4, 2020. Graduates of 8th grade at Jenner Campus can automatically enroll in 9th grade at Ogden's West Campus. If your child graduated from a different middle school [...]