In this series of blog posts, we’re providing a summary of the neighborhoods where we’re currently listing and developing homes.
For the purposes of this neighborhood guide, I will be including Edgewater Glen and Edgewater Beach as part of the overall Edgewater neighborhood. I plan to create an Andersonville neighborhood guide next.
Edgewater as a whole is a large lakefront neighborhood located about seven miles north of the Loop. It runs from W Foster Ave (U.S. Route 41) on the south up to W Devon Ave in the north, and from the lake on the east to N Ravenswood Ave on the west. It’s one of the bigger Chicago neigborhoods and could almost be considered a town of its own. That’s why it’s comprised of smaller areas.
Edgewater Glen is a small area tucked into the north part of Edgewater. Many of the homes in this neigborhood are American Foursquare style homes, their design influenced by the Arts and Crafts movement. (For more information on this area’s history, check out the writeup for Edgewater Historical Society’s home tour from back in 2000.) The Granville subway station is easily accessible just east of Edgewater Glen.
Edgewater Beach runs the length of the Edgewater neighborhood along the shore and west to the subway line between N Winthrop and N Broadway. Lake Shore Drive ends here at which point Sheridan Road takes over as the main lake-side thoroughfare. Both the locust trees and the many residential buildings lining Sheridan are tall, with only a few old mansions remaining. Some of the beach front here was filled in to make room for the high-rises. Many of these buildings were built in a modernist style and some were home to or destinations for celebrities in the 1950s, 60s, and 70s.
The neighborhood is home to many parks, beaches (including Hollywood Beach as well as quick access to Foster Beach and its dog-friendly beach area), and beach-side parks, as well as its own branch of the Chicago Public Library system.
Berger Park Cultural Center in Edgewater Beach.
Read on to see why it’s always a beautiful day in Edgewater.
Entertainment and Eating
Sauce and Bread Kitchen on Clark in Edgewater Glen.
Edgewater is known for its excellent antique shopping, including the perfect places to kill a few hours looking for your next treasure. Try Edgewater Antique Mall or Broadway Antique Market for starters. (Note: Andersonville also has some great shops!)
My team has a soft spot for food, and our very own Edgewater resident Michael Carey (who provided all of the photos for this post) recommends cafe and bakery Sauce and Bread Kitchen. They serve locally owned Dark Matter coffee and handmade pastries, sandwiches, soups, and more. Edgewater is also home to critic darlings Income Tax (a bar/restaurant that’s adored by Chicago Mag, Time Out Chicago, and Condé Nast Traveler alike) and contemporary Indian bistro Mango Pickle (Chicago Mag, Chicago Reader). Plus, the neighborhood may have the most Ethiopian restaurants per capita in the city: see Ras Dashen and Ethiopian Diamond. Lastly, now that summer is here, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Water Front Cafe with its primo location and one of the best ways to cool off on a long summer day: with Italian ices from Tina’s.
Water Front Cafe in Edgewater Beach
Of course, as with many of the neighborhoods in our creative city, Edgewater also has a flourishing arts scene. Independent houses like Jackalope Theatre and Steep Theatre are worth a visit. The area has galleries (see The Edge Gallery, for one) and even its own not-for-profit mosaic school.
Living 2007, a public mosaic in Edgewater Beach.
The Numbers
Homes along Highland Ave in Edgewater Glen.
A typical commute to The Loop by rail from Edgewater is about 50 minutes, door to door. To O’Hare Airport, it’s about an hour. By car, a typical drive to The Loop without traffic would take about 20 minutes, and a trip to O’Hare is 25 minutes.
Walkscore.com gives Edgewater a walk score of 89, a “very walkable” rating that means most errands can be accomplished on foot. It’s also very bikeable, with a bike score of 85. Public transportation options are considered excellent.
Zillow splits up the area into two separate neighborhoods: Edgewater and Edgewater Glen. Home values in Edgewater have gone up 1.7% in the past year and are projected to go up 2.1% in the next. Edgewater Glen has actually seen a dip in home values in the past year, but home values are already on the rise so far this year and Zillow predicts a projected 2.1% increase over the next 12 months. Edgewater Glen also has a much higher median home value. Zillow used to track Edgewater Beach as a separate neighborhood, but no longer does so.
A Bit of History
The Belle Shore Apartment Hotel in Edgewater Beach.
In addition to some of the history specific to parts of the Edgewater neighborhood mentioned above, the Edgewater Historical Society has rich online resources for those looking to learn more about the area’s historic sites, politics, lost history, and more. There’s even an online timeline with a roughly decade-by-decade description of Edgewater’s development.
Homes in Edgewater
If you’d like to learn more about Edgewater, I’d recommend exploring the following resources:
- Edgewater Historical Society (particularly the block clubs map to determine which you may belong to and the society’s physical location at their museum)
- Edgewater Glen Association
- DNAinfo’s Edgewater News
- Choose Chicago’s Edgewater Guide
- Chicago Mag’s Real Estate write-up on Edgewater (Note: While this post is from April 2014, it’s worth a read for context.)
If you’d like to live in the Edgewater area, check out the following home:
- 5931 N Hermitage (Andersonville–UNDER CONTRACT)
Please contact me directly for more information on Edgewater.
