South Shore Real Estate

South Shore’s Location

The South Shore community area is bounded by 67th Street on the north, 79th Street on the south, and Lake Michigan on the east. The west boundary essentially follows (when working southward) Kenwood Avenue, then Kimbark Avenue, then South Chicago Avenue. Until the 1920s, when it came to be formally known as South Shore, it was a collection of separately named areas, such as Essex, Bryn Mawr, Parkside, Cheltenham Beach, and Windsor Park. When the Illinois Central line had opened a station at 71st Street in 1881, it called it the South Kenwood Station.

South Shore’s History

Those earlier settlements making up the present South Shore were home to farmers, Illinois Central Railroad employees, and steel mill workers. The area’s annexation to Chicago in 1889 and South Shore’s proximity to the World’s Columbian Exposition on 1893 brought greater commercial and residential development. Following the turn of the century, the influx of immigrants and African-Americans to closer-in areas of the city brought an out-flow of white Protestants to South Shore. 1906 saw the establishment of the exclusionary and opulent South Shore Country Club at 71st Street and the lake. Fortunately for South Shore and the city, the Chicago Park District acquired the property in 1974, restored it, and now keeps it open to all the public as the South Shore Cultural Center.

A housing surge in the 1920s saw South Shore’s population more than double. Single-family homes, walk-up apartment buildings, and elevator buildings all rose to house the arrivals. And the commercial streets thrived. However, these new residents were nearly all whites. The 1950s brought South Shore’s turn to confront racial change. Real-estate "redlining" (the refusal of lenders to give mortgages) and commercial disinvestment intensified the rapid changes.

The determination of some South Shore residents, though, has gradually and steadily brought a re-emergence of the area. In the 1990s, the magnificent housing stock in South Shore started to lure investment and rehabilitation. Redlining had been declared illegal, and buyers could once again finance purchases in the area. Commercial revitalization and redevelopment, particularly along 71st Street, continues today.

Housing in South Shore

One word best describes the housing stock in South Shore. That word is space. Whether in houses, walk-up apartments, or elevator buildings, builders of the 1920s apportioned space much more lavishly than we do today. Much of that exceptional construction remains today. Significant renovation and condominium conversion has produced a vast assortment of choices for the home buyer. One may select from elevator buildings, near the lake, in eastern South Shore. Or oversized apartments in three-flats, six-flats, or courtyard buildings, often with garages. And throughout South Shore are houses that remind one more of a suburb than an urban area.

South Shore Highlights

Visitors to South Shore should not miss a visit to the South Shore Cultural Center, entered at South Shore Drive and 71st Street. Nearby, the Jackson Park Highlands District (67th to 71st streets, Euclid to Cregier avenues) contains an impressive assortment of early 20th century houses on large lots. Outstanding Prairie-style structures include the 1916 Kenna Apartments at 2214 E. 69th Street and the 1915 Allan Miller House at 7121 S. Paxton Avenue. The 1926 Moorish-inspired New Regal Theater at 1641 E. 79th Street epitomizes the opulent institutional buildings in South Shore.

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Other Neighborhood Information
Bronzeville, Hyde Park, Kenwood, South Loop, South Shore and Woodlawn