Where are the nice homes in Chicago? (Berwyn, Lincoln: 2013, living in)

[jdiddy]

Originally Posted by andrew61

What I've always hated, however, is that the front facades of the buildings are attractive brick and stone, but the sides and backs are all the same plain, ugly, brown "tenement brick" (for want of a better term). This appears to be the case all over the city, regardless of whether one is looking at a two- or three-flat, a cottage, a bungalow, or even many of the mansions (as in the Lincoln Park area).

Where you really notice it is when you're riding the el, where your view is of the backs of the buildings.

I love that brick.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by andrew61

What I've always hated, however, is that the front facades of the buildings are attractive brick and stone, but the sides and backs are all the same plain, ugly, brown "tenement brick" (for want of a better term). This appears to be the case all over the city, regardless of whether one is looking at a two- or three-flat, a cottage, a bungalow, or even many of the mansions (as in the Lincoln Park area).

Where you really notice it is when you're riding the el, where your view is of the backs of the buildings.

Beats the McMansions with brick out front and siding on the other 3 sides.

[glass_of_merlot]

Yes, and had the time the brick is fake.

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 4

[stephei2000]

[quote=Larry Siegel;31975501]Wildwood, Forest Glen, and Sauganash on the far northwest side look like those Detroit homes. For about 10 times the price.

On the south side, Beverly and maybe Jackson Park Highlands look like that.

Most of the "good" neighborhoods in Chicago are formerly working class and much higher density.[/quote

True, I started to figure that out that the "good neighborhoods" were former working class neighborhoods have that tenement I struggle to survive style except for pockets of Lincoln Park.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

There are a few places in Chicago that look like that, just like there are a few places in Detroit and most other cities that look like that. No city that I'm aware of has that type of housing as it's "majority," though. If it did, it wouldn't have a very large population unless each house was occupied by 30 people or the city was the size of a small state. Again, density comes into play.

There are many neighborhoods that are like that in Detroit not just a handful.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by ChiNaan

You've said this in other threads as well, and I just don't get it. (It appears others don't, either.) When I look at my street (18th), I rarely see two buildings of the same color next to each other. If they are the same color they at least have completely different architectural looks. Oftentimes they have murals on them. I see similar things in other neighborhoods. It's generally only in the newer construction areas that all the buildings are the same color and style. "Brown (or beige, more accurately) and flat" is what I see in tract homes in the suburbs, not in the city. You're correct that Chicago is not as colorful as San Francisco, but I'm not sure any American city is, except possibly New Orleans. Detroit sure isn't.

Yeah, but it is ugly architecture and looks run down. Driving on the Dan Ryan, the City of Chicago just looks rundown and gritty until you get to about 79th street and same with most of the Northside lakefront.

[oakparkdude]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

Yeah, but it is ugly architecture and looks run down. Driving on the Dan Ryan, the City of Chicago just looks rundown and gritty until you get to about 79th street and same with most of the Northside lakefront.

This is a minority opinion which is not shared by very many people.

[Atlanta_BD]

Originally Posted by stephei2000

Yeah, but it is ugly architecture and looks run down. Driving on the Dan Ryan, the City of Chicago just looks rundown and gritty until you get to about 79th street and same with most of the Northside lakefront.

On the south side along the Dan Ryan. But those are poorer areas and I think the architecture there is "newer" compared to what you will going closer in toward the core. You will see more wood frames, raised brick bungalows or tract homes along say 87th or 95th streets versus the housing you will see in the 79th street area.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by Drover

Makes me wonder what you expect Manhattan to look like.

The equivalent places in Chicago proper for the Detroit homes you posted would be Jackson Park Highlands (mostly black) and Beverly east of Western (mixed black/white, predominantly the latter). Both are on the south side.

Um ,I know exactly what Manhattan looks like as I went to NYC before I ever visited Chicago. I expect New York to look like New York because it is a large urban city on the East Coast.

I knew Manhattan was the urban of all urban places as I had a couple family members there and was exposed to it at young age. But what I do remember is hating the look and feeling depressed.

Granted I was only 4 and New York was way grittier back then, but still even after a couple days of whirlwind in NYC I become depressed as it is too much of an urban jungle, and when I was a child I could not get over the graffiti. Btw, I have been twice since 1995 and 2007.

I thought was I going to get killed, it felt so dangerous and scary and Manhattan still has that dark feel to me even though it has turned around.

The point is I could wait to leave when I was a child and did not have clue that Chicago even a had similar feel to an outer borough of Queens which is worst than Manhattan.

I mean did anyone read my posts, I literally thought Chicago was a big Detroit with huge downtown and mostly single family homes with some apartments.

[stephei2000]

Originally Posted by oakparkdude

This is a minority opinion which is not shared by very many people.

Well I am in the minority and I am Ok with that. Chicago socially is just not a good fit.