North Kenwood Multiple Resource District

“During this initial period of urbanization, the residents of North Kenwood included such prominent citizens as the architect Louis H. Sullivan, pioneering skyscraper designer and architectural theorist, and John G. Shedd, president of Marshall Field & Company and the philanthropist responsible for founding the Shedd Aquarium in Burnham Park.”

“Areas such as North Kenwood attracted affluent and socially prominent settlers who built large homes modeled on a utopian suburban ideal. Over time, the expansion of population, commerce, and traffic pushed the area of suburban ambience ever farther from the Loop, opening new, distant areas to development and transforming established neighborhoods from domestic and social destinations of the elite into middle-class urban neighborhoods.”

“The status of Kenwood as a premier neighborhood was enhanced by its early environment. Following Kennicott's original intention, the community became the embodiment of an elegant rural preserve, with residences designed by a number of the most prominent architects of the time and extensive private gardens.”

“Built in the early 1880s, the single-family residence at 4407 South Lake Park Avenue is among the earliest surviving structures in the North Kenwood community. A two-story brick house with Queen Anne details in stone, brick, and wood, it retains much of its original fabric, including stained glass and elements of its turned-spindle frame porch.”

“William W. Clay (1849-1926), formerly a partner in the firm of Beers, Clay & Dutton, was a prolific designer of large scale residences in historic styles. The architect of many homes for prominent settlers in the Oakland, Kenwood, and Hyde Park communities, as well as in the suburbs of the north shore, Clay served as president of the Chicago Chapter of the American Institute of Architects during 1893, the year of the World's Columbian Exposition.”

“The importance of Kennicott's contribution to the establishment of the new community was recognized at the opening ceremony for the 47th Street Station when George B. McClellan, vice-president of the Illinois Central Railroad and the future general who would command the Army of the Potomac, christened the station "Kenwood", a name which was henceforth applied to the entire community from 43rd to 51st streets, Cottage Grove Avenue to Lake Michigan.”

“Kenwood is the Lake Forest of the south, without the exclusiveness of its northern rival. A. T. Andreas, in his 1884 History of Cook County, Illinois, shared similar sentiments in regard to the south lakefront communities, even though continuing development was transforming Kenwood into a prominent and exemplary Victorian-era suburb: The estimation in which Kenwood was held by its residents has by no means lapsed with the progress of the years; the aristocratic denizen of that aristocratic suburb esteems it as the Faubourg Saint Germain was considered by the old regime of the Parisian aristocracy.”

“The opening of the Kenwood branch of the elevated rail system in 1907 transformed the community permanently. The Kenwood elevated, which ran from the still-extant station at Indiana Avenue and 40th Street east and south to 42nd Place and Oakenwald Avenue, opened the area to a large number of new residents, including many white collar clerks in Loop offices and blue collar workers employed in the stock yards.”