Harlem Avenue Visioning Study
- Preservation Planning
- Civic
- Urban Planning
Together, the team has created a unique and inspiring vision for the Harlem Avenue corridor through public realm improvements such as new open spaces, plazas, multi-purpose spaces for public events, parades, markets, and streetscape improvements to strengthen the business community and brand the commercial corridor as a gateway and home for Chicago’s Northwest side Italian community. The team worked alongside the community and city staff to define an implementation framework to guide these future improvements as part of a robust community engagement process. The Harlem Avenue Visioning Study is the first city-led planning initiative for the far Northwest Side communities of Montclare and Dunning.
Chicago, Illinois
City of Chicago
2-mile corridor, 200+ buildings
Site Design Group
Collabo
Goodman Williams Group
Harlem Avenue has served as a major thoroughfare and commercial center for Chicago’s Northwest Side for nearly a century. Nonindigenous settlement in the area dates back nearly 200 years, when Montclare was first settled by William Sayre in 1836. New developments were then spurred with the arrival of the Chicago & Pacific Railroad (C&P) in 1872, followed by the annexation of Montclare and Dunning to the City of Chicago in the 1880s. Development interest was again catalyzed by additional improvements in the early 1900s with the extension of the Grand Avenue streetcar line in 1912, the creation of Rutherford Sayre Park in 1916, and utilities and paved roads in the 1920s. Housing development in the area flourished north to Diversey Avenue in the 1930s.
In the mid-20th century, commercial development began to spread north along Harlem Avenue with the proliferation of the automobile. Simultaneously, the community experienced an influx in population as the Italian community in Chicago’s Near West Side Community Area was bifurcated by Interstate 290/Dwight D. Eisenhower Expressway beginning in 1955. Lots on Harlem Avenue that remained undeveloped in the 1950s were improved with new multi-building apartment complexes and auto-oriented commercial developments in the 1960s and 1970s, which is reflected in the diverse mid-20th century building stock along Harlem Avenue that we see today. By the end of the 20th century, the area experienced additional population growth as new groups moved into the area, including Greeks, Ukrainians, Lithuanians, Lebanese, and Hispanics, adding to the diversity and vibrancy of the area.