Old Town Triangle District

District Context

Old Town Triangle District is given district number 48 in Chicago's landmark system. Chicago dates the district designation to September 28, 1977, with the current extent summarized as An approximately 16-square-block area bounded roughly by Lincoln Ave. on the north, Wells St. (250W) on the east, North Ave. (1600N) on the south, and the former Ogden Ave. right-of–way on the west; predominantly 1871-1900. Old Town Triangle District allows boulevards, parks, and public-space structure, the relationship between open space and surrounding buildings, and preservation of a designed setting rather than a single object to be studied as part of one protected piece of the city.

Old Town Triangle District becomes physically clearer when site notes compare edges, courts, plantings, and view lines, how buildings frame shared space, and later paving, planting, or traffic changes. This is usually where the district begins to reveal how district identity can depend as much on shared space and alignment as on the buildings themselves.

Research Starting Points

Old Town Triangle District becomes a stronger district record once research expands into designation reports and planning records, historic photographs and maps, and park or boulevard histories. That is usually how the district moves from a protected outline into a fuller history of parcels, fabric, and later change.

Old Town Triangle District gives later archive work one district to return to rather than scattering across unrelated addresses.