This post is part of a Chicago home walk series.
1879 N. BURLING STREET, LINCOLN PARK
Continue north on N. Burling Street (from W. Willow Street) and 1879 is on your right. I have a special affinity for this house because I’m a sucker for tall ceilings, bright patches of color and concrete block. I love the simple, modern style and wood accents. A quick online search shows that it sold for only $657,000 in 1994 while Homes.com now values it at $2,757,400.
1917 N. BURLING STREET, LINCOLN PARK
Keep walking up a few houses. 1917 N. Burling Street is interesting because it didn’t look like this six months ago: it got a total makeover! That flashy exterior belies a much older interior. You can see the former infrastructure through the new if you look closely. Homes.com values it at $1,603,900.
1917 West Burling Street Lincoln Park
1932 N. BURLING STREET, LINCOLN PARK
Not even a block down, on your left, is this gaudy monstrosity. Where do you start with this place? What with the creepy Burger King and Ronald McDonald faces carved into the concrete and the magic gravel they imported from France because they liked the “crunch” of it. Seriously. Just for fun, see how many Lexus SUVs you can spot between the driveway and street (my record is 7). Every once-in-awhile you’ll spy the chauffeur-driven, extended black limo (with the satellite atop) that ferries The Missus around.
If you look across the street from 1932 you can see where the owners of that grandiosity tacked-on an addition (the red brick doesn’t quite match) the same time that 1932 was under construction. A case of keeping up with the Joneses? And nothing screams ostentatious narcicism as much as their having upgraded the plain, public concrete sidewalk to a red-brick pattern at God knows what cost.
1970 N. BURLING STREET, LINCOLN PARK
Not to be outdone in the vulgarity department by 1932 N. Burling Street, the guy who built his McMansion (which is admittedly kind of a cool) a few doors down at 1970 N. Burling Street obviously felt compelled to erect a blue windmill statue that dominates the intersection/street/block. As would be expected, the neighbors are up-in-arms about it. Less than two-years-old, it’s already showing signs of wear-and-tear: rusting, fading, etc.
This post is part of a Chicago home walk series.
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