Art Institute of Chicago (apartments, rent, townhomes)

[Hannah2112]

My husband and I are thinking of moving to Chicago so he can go to the Art Institute. I am not a big city girl, so I am worried about moving there. We have a dog and I am used to just walking down one flight of stairs to let her out not 10 or more and having somewhat of a yard. Do you enjoy living in Chicago? I am not exactly sure where the school is located and I was wondering if there are any apartments that are close to the school, but out of downtown. Thanks so much!

[Manigault]

The school of the Art Institute is down town. There are many townhomes in Chicago which would afford you the ability to walk downstairs to let your dog out into the yard; some of them within walking distance of your husband's prospective school. However, in an urban environment, dogs must be kept on leashes and one must pick up after what they leave in public.

[Hannah2112]

Do the apartments downtown even allow bigger dogs? I feel like they wouldn't because every time I have been downtown I don't see yards anywhere!

[Manigault]

Originally Posted by Hannah2112

Do the apartments downtown even allow bigger dogs? I feel like they wouldn't because every time I have been downtown I don't see yards anywhere!

I believe many of them have a 40 lb limit. Are you interested in living downtown? Transportation to the school of the Art Institute is excellent so one would have many residential options.

[emathias]

Originally Posted by Hannah2112

...
We have a dog and I am used to just walking down one flight of stairs to let her out not 10 or more and having somewhat of a yard.
...

10 or more? Flights of stairs? You know what a flight is, right - a series of invididual steps leading from one level to another? So 10 flights would be very, very unusual to be necessary to use since every modern building has elevators and any older building over 4 stories (which would only be three flights of stairs from the ground to the top level) probably has been retrofitted with elevators. The only city in the U.S. that I'm aware of where more than four story walk-ups are even somewhat common is New York.

Anyway, you will usually have to pay additional rent for dogs, and probably even more for large dogs. But there are plenty of 2-3 story buildings in Chicago that have a yard in the back where a dog could at least see some grass. There are also dog parks in some neighborhoods - especially dense ones.

Chicago's downtown is pretty big. Your husband probably won't be driving to school unless he likes paying a lot for parking, but the good news is that the School of the Art Institute is within 1-3 blocks of every "L" line. You'll have plenty of options. Price may be your biggest limiting factor, but even then there is almost always something for everyone.

It may be less intimidating to think of a big city as dozens and dozens of small towns interwoven, because that's essentially how they function from a individual standpoint. You live in a neighborhood, but because what you do heavily influences where you will choose living for all sorts of practical reasons you'll probably discover you live near people you work with or go to school with. And the individual neighborhoods often function like small towns. There are obviously differences, but you may be surprised how similar the analogy really ends up being (I say this having grown up in a town of about 600 people, and gone to college in a town of about 5,000 people, so I know small town life pretty well).

Anyway, try not to be intimidated by the "big city" - there's something here for anyone, whether it's small, simply things or big, complex things.

[americangeneral]

Yawn. MET in NYC is better.

[Haley Wood]

Originally Posted by Hannah2112

Do the apartments downtown even allow bigger dogs? I feel like they wouldn't because every time I have been downtown I don't see yards anywhere!

I've been looking for places and I've had no problem finding a place that would accept two large, over 40 lb dogs. It's going to cost you, but any place near downtown is going to cost you anyway.

[caspper69]

Originally Posted by americangeneral

Yawn. MET in NYC is better.

You do realize that one is a museum and one is a school, right?

Oh yeah, don't feed the trolls.

[prairiestate]

Originally Posted by caspper69

You do realize that one is a museum and one is a school, right?

Oh yeah, don't feed the trolls.

True, but actually the Met really is better. I even have an A.I. membership, but when I went to the Met for the first time, I couldn't believe what a pathetic little art museum we have in Chicago. You could fit the whole thing into one corner of the Met.

Ok, I'm exaggerating slightly, but still the Met is still several orders of magnitude greater then the A.I. It truly is stunning.

[Manigault]

I've been to MOMA, to the Louvre and to the Rijksmuseum-- is this thread a competition? I thought we were discussing Chicago's School of the Art Institute.