clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Here Now, Curbed's Bucktown Architectural Walking Tour

By Ian Spula
7 comments / new
View as Map
By Ian Spula
7 comments / new

For those unacquainted with Bucktown, or for the well-acquainted who've grown jaded to the many delightful old cottages, churches, commercial buildings, and new-builds, Curbed is about to give you a reason to lift those eyes and look around. We present our Architectural Walking Tour of Bucktown. Our 21 mapped sites hit on the diversity of the 'hood's buildings, primarily in its housing stock. Our selections are meant as highlights in an area impossible to overrepresent owing to its great variety in style and taste. As it happens, we gravitated to a good number of contemporary new-builds which began arriving en masse 15 years ago or so. Boom time development reached the point where entire blocks of slick town homes, single-fams, and converted warehouse lofts took hold, particularly on blocks flanking Milwaukee and the "L".

Local landmarks include the Coyote Building, Noel State Bank Building (with its blinged-out Walgreens), Saint Mary of the Angels Church, Urban Sandbox, and Urban Treehouse. Many lesser sites are not known by proper names, so you'd probably not know to look for them. Interesting residential architecture is metastasizing around the Bloomingdale Trail, so that makes for a good launch point. Or, work east to west as we've plotted our map points. The neighborhood is larger than it seems once you try and canvas its blocks so we shaved our area of interest down to the neat rectangle framed by Western, Armitage, Ashland, and North. There's still a lot to see within this grid, so halving it at Damen isn't a bad plan for an afternoon stroll. And even though this is a walking tour, hopping the bike isn't frowned upon.
·Architectural Walking Tours [Curbed Chicago]

Read More

Urban Treehouse

Copy Link

The former Sisters of the Resurrection convent, attached to Saint Mary of the Angels, Urban Treehouse is now a high-end condo building ever-so-carefully converted last year by Ranquist Development. Admire the restored elegant detailing and grand stature.

1849 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, Chicago, IL 60622

Saint Mary of the Angels Church

Copy Link

This massive church and school complex is one of the most visible Bucktown landmarks, commonly seen poking up when traveling the Kennedy. It dodged demolition in the 1980s and has embarked on a multi-million dollar campaign to "save the dome".

1850 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

1842 N Wood

Copy Link

4,000 square-foot contempo by local firm Funke Architects.

1842 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1736 N Wood

Copy Link

1736 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1758 N Honore

Copy Link

A newly completed environmentally-sensitive home designed by Morgante-Wilson really struts its stuff along the Bloomingdale Trail. It contributes to a sense of intensification and modern design on lots near the rail bed-- soon to be a showcase recreational space.

1758 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1810 N Honore

Copy Link

1810 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1822 N Honore

Copy Link

1822 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1825 W Wabansia

Copy Link

1825 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

1610 N Honore

Copy Link

1610 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

Urban Sandbox

Copy Link

Another Ranquist venture, Urban Sandbox is a mix of condos and large single-families-- as hip and modern as can be. There's still one development lot to fill, but the project endured lackluster early sales to become a big deal for the neighborhood.

1627 North Wolcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

Coyote Building

Copy Link

Also known as Northwest Tower, the Coyote is the iconic landmark of both Bucktown and Wicker Park. The flatiron design is an unusual one in Chicago, and thus has attracted conversion interest from hotels and apartment builders over the years. Although overdue, no adaptation and/or renovation plan has stuck.

1600 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Noel State Bank Building

Copy Link

The rotund former bank building at Six Corners has gotten gobs of attention since Walgreens restored the structure and made it home to an over-the-top flagship store. Do yourself a favor and pop inside (we didn't say buy anything).

1601 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

M. Houlberg Company Building

Copy Link

This small Milwaukee Ave commercial building was built by a Danish immigrant who had started life in America as a painter at the White City. M. Houlberg soon established his own paint business in a building wearing traditional Scandinavian detail.

1629 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

2052 W North

Copy Link

This is the only building we know of in town, apart from North Beach's Castaways, that was meant to look like a ship. Its model is pretty clearly the rear of a cruise ship or gigantic yacht-- a nice suggestion of "luxury". What a hoot!

2052 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1729 N Hoyne

Copy Link

This large single-fam borrows heavily from Frank Lloyd Wright, which isn't that bad of thing. You may find the material choices don't quite measure up.

1729 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1807 N Hoyne

Copy Link

This is a pair of homes, built in reflection of one another. The glassier half is unocuppied and leaves the impression of abandoned development. But it just hasn't sold. A commenter notes that the place is out of foreclosure and will undergo renovations and re-listing in short order.

1807 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1804 N Leavitt

Copy Link

1804 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1840 N Leavitt

Copy Link

1840 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1851-53 N Leavitt

Copy Link

1851 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

Kling Brothers & Co Building

Copy Link

This is a supremely handsome 160-unit warehouse conversion near Western Ave. There are others like it in Bucktown, but generally with less ornament and scale.

2300 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Floyd's Pub

Copy Link

Your most important stop will certainly be the end-of-the-tour watering hole. There are dozens to choose from, but we're recommending Floyd's Pub on Armitage for its popular appeal and the building's roots as a Schlitz brewpub. There were 60-some-odd brewpubs bearing the classic globe a century ago, and this is one of only a few remaining.

1944 N Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Loading comments...

© 2023 Vox Media, Inc. All rights reserved.
Link copied to the clipboard.

Urban Treehouse

1849 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, Chicago, IL 60622

The former Sisters of the Resurrection convent, attached to Saint Mary of the Angels, Urban Treehouse is now a high-end condo building ever-so-carefully converted last year by Ranquist Development. Admire the restored elegant detailing and grand stature.

1849 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622, Chicago, IL 60622

Saint Mary of the Angels Church

1850 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

This massive church and school complex is one of the most visible Bucktown landmarks, commonly seen poking up when traveling the Kennedy. It dodged demolition in the 1980s and has embarked on a multi-million dollar campaign to "save the dome".

1850 N Hermitage Ave, Chicago, IL 60622

1842 N Wood

1842 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

4,000 square-foot contempo by local firm Funke Architects.

1842 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1736 N Wood

1736 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1736 North Wood Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1758 N Honore

1758 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

A newly completed environmentally-sensitive home designed by Morgante-Wilson really struts its stuff along the Bloomingdale Trail. It contributes to a sense of intensification and modern design on lots near the rail bed-- soon to be a showcase recreational space.

1758 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1810 N Honore

1810 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1810 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1822 N Honore

1822 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1822 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1825 W Wabansia

1825 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

1825 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

1610 N Honore

1610 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

1610 North Honore Street, Chicago, IL 60622

Urban Sandbox

1627 North Wolcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

Another Ranquist venture, Urban Sandbox is a mix of condos and large single-families-- as hip and modern as can be. There's still one development lot to fill, but the project endured lackluster early sales to become a big deal for the neighborhood.

1627 North Wolcott Avenue, Chicago, IL 60622

Coyote Building

1600 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Also known as Northwest Tower, the Coyote is the iconic landmark of both Bucktown and Wicker Park. The flatiron design is an unusual one in Chicago, and thus has attracted conversion interest from hotels and apartment builders over the years. Although overdue, no adaptation and/or renovation plan has stuck.

1600 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Noel State Bank Building

1601 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

The rotund former bank building at Six Corners has gotten gobs of attention since Walgreens restored the structure and made it home to an over-the-top flagship store. Do yourself a favor and pop inside (we didn't say buy anything).

1601 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

M. Houlberg Company Building

1629 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

This small Milwaukee Ave commercial building was built by a Danish immigrant who had started life in America as a painter at the White City. M. Houlberg soon established his own paint business in a building wearing traditional Scandinavian detail.

1629 North Milwaukee Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

2052 W North

2052 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

This is the only building we know of in town, apart from North Beach's Castaways, that was meant to look like a ship. Its model is pretty clearly the rear of a cruise ship or gigantic yacht-- a nice suggestion of "luxury". What a hoot!

2052 West North Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1729 N Hoyne

1729 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

This large single-fam borrows heavily from Frank Lloyd Wright, which isn't that bad of thing. You may find the material choices don't quite measure up.

1729 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1807 N Hoyne

1807 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

This is a pair of homes, built in reflection of one another. The glassier half is unocuppied and leaves the impression of abandoned development. But it just hasn't sold. A commenter notes that the place is out of foreclosure and will undergo renovations and re-listing in short order.

1807 North Hoyne Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

1804 N Leavitt

1804 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1804 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1840 N Leavitt

1840 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1840 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1851-53 N Leavitt

1851 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

1851 North Leavitt Street, Chicago, IL 60647

Kling Brothers & Co Building

2300 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

This is a supremely handsome 160-unit warehouse conversion near Western Ave. There are others like it in Bucktown, but generally with less ornament and scale.

2300 West Wabansia Avenue, Chicago, IL 60647

Floyd's Pub

1944 N Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60647

Your most important stop will certainly be the end-of-the-tour watering hole. There are dozens to choose from, but we're recommending Floyd's Pub on Armitage for its popular appeal and the building's roots as a Schlitz brewpub. There were 60-some-odd brewpubs bearing the classic globe a century ago, and this is one of only a few remaining.

1944 N Oakley Ave, Chicago, IL 60647