West Argyle Street Historic District (Boundary Increase)

Roughly six miles north of the Loop in Chicago's Uptown neighborhood, this district clusters around the Argyle elevated train station. It holds seventy-three buildings, mostly brick with limestone and terra cotta detailing, ranging from one to twelve stories. Contributing buildings date from 1898 to 1938 and include flat buildings, single-family houses, courtyard apartments, apartment hotels and one- and two-part commercial blocks along West Argyle Street. Styles include Classical, Renaissance, Spanish Eclectic, Tudor and Late Gothic revivals, plus an Art Deco commercial building on North Sheridan Road. The tallest is the twelve-story 5050 Sheridan Building of 1929. Growth followed the extension of the elevated railway to Wilson Avenue after residents lobbied for it, which drew new residents and merchants. The boundaries enclose the most intact remaining portion of this development, since later redevelopment removed parts of the Winthrop-Kenmore corridor. Alterations are mostly to storefronts and windows, and the district keeps its historic scale, materials and street pattern.