Gold Coast Chicago Neighborhood

Chicago’s Gold Coast has a reputation of being one of the city’s most fashionable neighborhoods, and it is home to some of the most impressive high-rise condo buildings that can be found anywhere. The neighborhood is located at the northern tip of Chicago’s premiere shopping district on Michigan Avenue, and according to the Chicago Tribune, the Gold Coast is the second most affluent neighborhood in the country after New York’s Upper East Side.

Beginning at Lake Shore Drive, which runs along the lakefront, some of the city’s most elegant high-rises emerge, giving way to taller hotels and office buildings towards Michigan Avenue and beyond. The 100-floor John Hancock Center is easily the most recognizable building in the Gold Coast, and it occupies a full city block along Michigan Avenue between Chestnut Street and Delaware Place. The Hancock Center, by the way, is a mixed-use building that has about 700 condos that are mixed in with offices and restaurants.

After the Hancock Center, one of the most prestigious residential areas in the Gold Coast is the Astor Street District, which is a historic landmark district on Astor Street between Division Street and North Avenue. The Astor district features building that are much shorter and older than the jumbo-sized high-rises that surround them, but they’re also some of the most regal properties in the entire city. Most of the buildings there were constructed between 1880 and 1940, and many of them are built of attractive limestone and feature very attractive masonry work.

Similarly, the stretch of Lake Shore Drive between Division Street and North Avenue has some of the city’s oldest high-rises, most of which were built in the first three decades of the 20th Century. These addresses contain vestiges of Chicago’s gilded era, which can be seen from the street with the impressively ornate facades, and most of the buildings are shorter than 20 floors. Further south and moving away from the lake, most of the other high-rise condo buildings have been built since the mid-1960s.

Many of the residences in Gold Coast fall into the category of “luxury” in one way or another, but that doesn’t mean that the entire neighborhood is at the highest end of the price spectrum. Because the housing market in the Gold Coast is so dense and rich, there are homes that will appeal to homebuyers and families from a wide range of income brackets.

Aside from the myriad shopping options that are available to residents of the Gold Coast, there is also an abundance of excellent restaurants in the neighborhood that attract worldwide attention. The other benefit to the Gold Coast’s location is the neighborhood’s proximity to the beach, as there are several excellent beaches that are within walking distance from most neighborhood residences.