- University of Illinois Press
Chicago, as the cliche goes, is a city of neighborhoods. New York likes to make this claim too, as do Saint Louis and Seattle and probably every other city in America that can be subdivided into distinct areas, each with its own special cultural and architectural character that attracts its own special stereotypical resident, easily identified by race, ethnicity, age, social class, and degree of hipsterdom. But Chicago stands out from all those other cities because it’s officially been divided into 77 community areas which roughly correspond—though not always—to what Chicagoans consider their neighborhoods.
But in describing the many kinds of buildings—office buildings, apartment buildings, private homes, schools, churches, parks, and random curiosities—and pointing out details not only about architectural features but also who built them and why and how they’ve been used over the years, the authors also obliquely tell the stories of different neighborhoods. The best way to use the book is, as the title implies, to take it along on a walk or a drive through some part of the city you’ve never been before and see what you can find.
