Astor Street District

Constructed over a period of more than 100 years, the buildings along Astor Street reflect the fashionable styles favored by their original high-society residents.

While most of high society lived in mansions on Prairie Avenue, Palmer began to buy up land on the north end, which was only lightly populated and still mostly swamp after the Great Chicago Fire in 1871.

Interest in the area increased when Lake Shore Drive was opened in 1875 from North Avenue to Oak Street, and a favorite Sunday afternoon pastime became a ride along the lakefront.

Within 20 years of the opening of Lake Shore Drive, Astor Street was fully developed, filled with city houses abutting one another on their narrow sites.

Featuring a plain brick facade with ornamentation that is unique among all other houses, it is lavishly decorated inside, in a style that is typical of Sullivan's work.

This was part of a trend to construct buildings for artists at the turn of the century that was indicative of a growing appreciation for the arts in urban life and as a worthwhile educational pursuit.

The buildings features 110 units arranged around a central courtyard with a Byzantine entrance with lush mosaics representing the three arts of music, drama, and painting.