After spending most of my life in different parts of North Carolina, in the beginning of 2013 I moved to Chicago and found a place to live in the Logan Square neighborhood. I didn’t seek out this neighborhood, but I found a place to rent here that met all my requirements–it’s near a train station, affordable, dog-friendly, and has all the important things within walking distance. This neighborhood is steeped in history and is one of the most rapidly redeveloping areas of Chicago, and I feel fortunate to have landed here.
Soon after moving, I began photographing the neighborhood and its architecture. I started the site Chicago Patterns, where I have been posting my discoveries, for the some of the same reasons I founded Goodnight Raleigh a few years back: it motivated me to get out of the house, go exploring, and learn as much as possible about the city around me.
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My introduction to Logan Park started with a stroll down Milwaukee Avenue. The illuminated sign of a
recently restored art deco movie theater shares its name with the park after which the neighborhood was named.
The
Illinois Centennial Monument was built in 1918 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Illinois’ statehood. Designed by Henry Bacon (who also designed the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.), it sits in the center of the Logan Square park.
Facing the square and Centennial Monument is
Logan Square Auditorium, a turn of the century classical structure with ground level retail and a ballroom above which serves as a live music venue.
The
CTA Blue Line stop in Logan Square was built in 1970 to replace an existing terminal. Built in the International Style, it’s a bit unusual for Chicago’s ‘L’ as it is underground. The elevated line goes below ground shortly before reaching this stop.
Exiting the Logan Square CTA stop, this is one of many murals that welcome you home. It was installed a couple years ago and is a part of the
35th Ward Mural Initiative. 
Another mural faces the station and Logan Square. The neighborhood has some grittier aspects, but it feels like it’s undergoing some very rapid changes, especially on the east side, with new condos, rehabbed buildings, bars selling craft beers, and niche nightclubs.
Most of the neighborhood’s early residents were Eastern European, Scandinavian, and German immigrants. The established upper-class Chicagoans didn’t want the new immigrants in their neighborhoods, so these newly wealthy immigrants built their mansions on the boulevards of Logan Square, like this one on Kedzie Avenue.
Unlike many of the mansions in other areas such as South Shore that fell into disrepair and were converted into rooming houses, many of the grand homes here remain intact with original woodwork and trim.
While the majority of housing stock in the neighborhood consists of narrow two- or three-flat buildings, there are a few pockets of large Victorian-era single family homes. These are located on Bernard Street.
One of the defining characteristics of Chicago architecture is the
greystone, a two or three story structure (possibly including a garden level) made from Indiana limestone. This tree-lined row of greystones is on Wrightwood Avenue. Many homes of this style were built by upwardly mobile immigrants who used the other floors for family or to rent out. Logan Square is one of the neighborhoods in Chicago’s “Greystone Belt.”
Despite falling on hard times a few decades ago and more recently earning a reputation for gang violence and crime, Logan Square is once again becoming a destination for art, culture, and beautiful architecture among Chicago’s neighborhoods.
I knew that Chicago was a city of neighborhoods, but I didn’t realize just how different and unique all of the neighborhoods here are.
