Uptown is a lakefront community situated 5 miles due north of downtown Chicago. When Uptown was developed at the turn of the 1900’s, it was, well, very “Uptown”. It was THE place to see and be seen during the “Roaring 20’s” in Chicago. As a result, it is a dense mixture of luxury, vintage apartments – most of which were converted to condos in 1980’s and 1990’s.
The area is anchored by its theaters and is home to the Aragon Ballroom – made famous during the Big Band era – the Riviera Theatre, and the Uptown Theatre. The lavish decorations of these theatres whisper the grand history of a bygone era. While The Aragon is still an operating music venue, The Riviera and The Uptown have been the focus of restoration projects that have only met with a modicum of success. Nostalgia lovers and jazz fans alike will not want to miss taking in the famed Green Mill Jazz Club (4802 N. Broadway). It was once a favorite haunt of Al Capone. On a Saturday night, jazz fans still line up around the block waiting for a seat.
Uptown boasts the birthplace of the film industry – preceding Hollywood as home to stars and movie moguls. The Essanay Studios, located at 1345 W. Argyle, is where silent movies were first made. (The link takes you to an hilarious history!) It is now a designated Chicago landmark and home to St. Augustine College. The area east of Sheridan Rd between Lawrence Ave and Winnemac is a pocket of vintage condos called Margate Park as well as home to famous Castlewood Terrace – the street of mansions that once housed Gloria Swanson and Charlie Chaplin and many other film moguls of movies’ silent era. All that ended in the 1930’s, of course, when film-making moved to California.
A famous coop building, The Aquatania at 5000 N. Marine Dr., is a beautiful art-deco building from 1923. It was named after the famous Cunard ship – sister ship to the Lusitania (the sinking of which started WWI). Prior to being converted to coops in 1949, it was a luxury rental building and home to starlets and chorus girls (whose pictures adorn the hallways.)
Next door to The Aquatania is Margate Park Condominiums: 5020 – 5060 N. Marine Dr. It was once a coop building and was only just converted to condos in 2006. Built in 1939, it is a superb example of late 1930’s art deco styling.
While the area is comprised predominantly of larger (3+ units) apartment buildings that have been converted to condos, there are three pockets of luxury single family homes (mansions) on big lots: Castlewood Terrace in Margate Park, Sheridan Park and Buena Park. While these pockets were typically developed between 1900-1930, there are outcroppings of newer construction in each area.
After a long period of deterioration brought on by The Great Depression and abetted by poor municipal land use policies, Uptown saw a resurgence in the 1990’s. Located along the lakefront with excellent access to public transportation and a vibrant merchant community, Uptown in the new millennium is once again – as it was in the 1920’s – THE place to ‘see and be seen’.
