I am two years out of school and have had several great jobs in Los Angeles. I love LA but I know it's only a matter of time before I want to have a family and settle down closer to my parents in Chicago, where I grew up. I've already seen the threads about the job situation in Chicago, but what I want to know is where the creative types are living in the city. Which Chicago neighborhoods do architects call home (young or old)? Where is the scene for young professionals vs licensed architects with young families? Looking to buy property in the next 5 years.
It's in the 80s in SoCal this week and there are ice floes on Lake Michigan ... and you want to move back to Chicago? What if you get there and then miss L.A.? There are ways to raise a family in L.A. But who's to stop you? I don't know if Chicago lends itself to settling down earlier than is the case in L.A. Also, young professionals and licensed architects could be one and the same, because if you're an architectural professional, then you are by definition licensed in the field. So you're really asking about young, college educated yuppies more so than the over 30 or over 35 crowd.
Check out Bucktown. You can still sow some oats there until you settle down and live in suburbia out beyond O'Hare. Logan Square is more appropriate if you dig Puerto Rican, Cuban, Peruvian, and Mexican food on a regular basis.
Also check out Little Italy, around the UIC area. Sure, its a college neighborhood, but a lot of the students also tend to stay after graduation and work. I myself am in the South Loop, another good place for architects if you like surrounding yourself with highrises.
Bucktown and Wicker Park are both hipsterish neighborhoods where a lot of the artsy people live, thus making it another option for an architect if that's your thing. Humboldt Park is ok, but it is far away from public transportation if you work in the Loop.
I lived in Lincoln Park for years, then Old Town. While living in Lincoln Park, there were at least 10 architects that either went to school with me or worked with me living 10 min. walking distance, all in Lincoln Park. Then again, we were all young and Lincoln Park was THE neighborhood.
Architects and young architectural professionals such as myself live in Chicago where the rent is reasonable 900-1200 for a two bed room and where there is good El service into the loop and where the neighborhoods are stable not sinking not gentrifying rapidly like Logan Square or Wicker Park. There is no concentration of where architects live but there is a concentration of where the firms are located mostly in the loop. New firms are springing up in the west loop, Greek town and near north close to the Merch Mart. Along the Blue Line from the Grand to the Belmont stop you are finding more of the cutting edge firms, Space, Studio Gang, and others, west of there in the Humboldt Park neighborhood are a lot of young start-ups, this is a result of rent and where talented young architectural professionals want to live. I run a job hunt club with the local Chicago Young Architects Forum and many, 40%, of the people we help are young under 40 people wanting to trade in a suburban job for a city job and are willing to take a pay cut to get the two to 4 hours of car commuting wasted each day back into their life.
There are no architect colonies like there are artist colonies in Chicago that i know of.
Where do all the architects live in Chicago?
I am two years out of school and have had several great jobs in Los Angeles. I love LA but I know it's only a matter of time before I want to have a family and settle down closer to my parents in Chicago, where I grew up. I've already seen the threads about the job situation in Chicago, but what I want to know is where the creative types are living in the city. Which Chicago neighborhoods do architects call home (young or old)? Where is the scene for young professionals vs licensed architects with young families? Looking to buy property in the next 5 years.
It's in the 80s in SoCal this week and there are ice floes on Lake Michigan ... and you want to move back to Chicago? What if you get there and then miss L.A.? There are ways to raise a family in L.A. But who's to stop you? I don't know if Chicago lends itself to settling down earlier than is the case in L.A. Also, young professionals and licensed architects could be one and the same, because if you're an architectural professional, then you are by definition licensed in the field. So you're really asking about young, college educated yuppies more so than the over 30 or over 35 crowd.
Check out Bucktown. You can still sow some oats there until you settle down and live in suburbia out beyond O'Hare. Logan Square is more appropriate if you dig Puerto Rican, Cuban, Peruvian, and Mexican food on a regular basis.
Also check out Little Italy, around the UIC area. Sure, its a college neighborhood, but a lot of the students also tend to stay after graduation and work. I myself am in the South Loop, another good place for architects if you like surrounding yourself with highrises.
Bucktown and Wicker Park are both hipsterish neighborhoods where a lot of the artsy people live, thus making it another option for an architect if that's your thing. Humboldt Park is ok, but it is far away from public transportation if you work in the Loop.
I lived in Lincoln Park for years, then Old Town. While living in Lincoln Park, there were at least 10 architects that either went to school with me or worked with me living 10 min. walking distance, all in Lincoln Park. Then again, we were all young and Lincoln Park was THE neighborhood.
They dont live in Chicago, they live in the burbs
Architects and young architectural professionals such as myself live in Chicago where the rent is reasonable 900-1200 for a two bed room and where there is good El service into the loop and where the neighborhoods are stable not sinking not gentrifying rapidly like Logan Square or Wicker Park. There is no concentration of where architects live but there is a concentration of where the firms are located mostly in the loop. New firms are springing up in the west loop, Greek town and near north close to the Merch Mart. Along the Blue Line from the Grand to the Belmont stop you are finding more of the cutting edge firms, Space, Studio Gang, and others, west of there in the Humboldt Park neighborhood are a lot of young start-ups, this is a result of rent and where talented young architectural professionals want to live. I run a job hunt club with the local Chicago Young Architects Forum and many, 40%, of the people we help are young under 40 people wanting to trade in a suburban job for a city job and are willing to take a pay cut to get the two to 4 hours of car commuting wasted each day back into their life.
There are no architect colonies like there are artist colonies in Chicago that i know of.
Over and OUT
Peter N
gruen = yawn
Phoenix, AZ
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