A colleague of mine once marketed a home in Wicker Park as “Life Happily Ever After”, a stunning mansion on Hoyne Street updated with all of the modern amenities. This neighborhood is one with a rich history, displayed prominently in the area known as Beer Baron Row. The Wicker Park neighborhood was open prairie at the time of the Chicago Fire in 1871. The subsequent pyrophobia was in the mind of the builders and architects of the time period immediately following this tragic event. As a consequence, the homes were decorated with ornate stone and metal features, a modern elegance that resulted in Hoyne Street being one of the first paved streets in the city. The area around the intersection of Hoyne and Pierce (formerly known as Ewing Place) became known as Beer Baron Row. There are two reasons for this title; one obviously being the number of beer and wine merchants with mansions in the area, specifically the Schlitz mansion that stood at Hoyne and Ewing until the 20’s, secondly there were a number of well to do Germans who built and occupied many of these mansions.
To learn more about this rich tradition, take a walking tour June 22 or August 10, 1PM-2:30PM. Tickets are $15, call 312-278-9075 or email wpgarden@aol.com.
These photos are examples of some of the beautiful homes you will see on that tour.
Just visited your site again. Love the photos. Wish I lived near enough to take the tour. I’ll be stopping by regularly to see how things progress.
thanks for your web site. I went to wicker Park school 1946 to 1948 and lived on lemoyne near hoyne where i had a school mate who lived in the same house on that corner. the houses were not kept up so the history was ignored.
EUGENE