BASICS:

Buena Park is a sub-neighborhood of Uptown. Though many who live in the low-density neighborhood of Buena Park consider their community to be a sub-neighborhood of Lakeview! It's safe to say that both Uptown and Lakeview are excellent neighborhoods to live in.

HOUSING:

The core of the neighborhood is very suburban, with driveways and spacious lots. It is in sharp contrast to the skyscrapers that populate the area around it. Buena Park offers large renovated condominiums, apartments, and occasional single-family homes. Plus it has a wonderful landmark district with turn-of-the-century Georgian and Prairie School mansions. History and housing stock have combined to make the neighborhood an enclave of upscale rehabilitation. Natural stone, inlaid wood and custom touches like oversize palladian windows are found in many of these high-end houses.

LOCATION:

Buena Park's boundary on the north is Montrose Avenue (4400 North). Its boundary on the south is Irving Park (4400 North); on the east it is Marine Drive (600 West); and the west end borders Chicago's famous Graceland Cemetery.

HISTORY:

The Buena Park suburb was designated in 1860 in a development in Lake View Township. Back then Buena Park was dubbed one of "The Imperial Suburbs of Chicago" by a local newspaper.

Land speculator, John Lewis Cochran (1857 1923) helped set a building pattern for the area that remains somewhat intact today. Chicago's Edgewater neighborhood fostered a broad mix of classes. Along the lakefront mansions were favored, but west of Broadway he encouraged multi-family housing. The Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad stop at Bryn Mawr Avenue was instrumental in the building of the Northwestern Elevated Railroad Company tracks near housing developments. These routes made this area (later to be called Uptown) one of Chicago's most populous residential centers.

EVENTS

The Buena Park Block Party takes place in early September. Families come together in Buena Park to listen to music, partake of neighborhood delights and peruse the wares from a variety of vendors.

ZIP CODE

The zip code for Chicago's Buena Park neighborhood is 60613.