CHICAGO’S GOLD COAST: You Should Have Seen It 100 Years Ago

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Before Chicago’s Gold Coast became a neighborhood of luxury high-rises and multimillion-dollar penthouses, it was home to some of America’s wealthiest families and their extraordinary Gilded Age mansions.

Travel back to the glamorous days of old Chicago, when industrial millionaires built magnificent private castles along Lake Shore Drive, wealthy socialites entertained in lavish drawing rooms, and owning an enormous mansion overlooking Lake Michigan was the ultimate status symbol.

Discover how Potter Palmer and his wife, Bertha Honoré Palmer, helped transform Chicago’s Near North Side into one of America’s most prestigious residential neighborhoods. Explore the legendary Potter Palmer Castle, the lost mansions of Lake Shore Drive, and the extraordinary fortunes of families like the McCormicks, Rockefellers, and Pattersons.

We’ll also visit beautiful Astor Street, where magnificent Gilded Age mansions and historic townhouses still preserve the elegance of old Chicago. Discover the history of the original Chicago Playboy Mansion, the glamorous Drake Hotel, and the luxurious apartment buildings that transformed the Gold Coast during the Roaring Twenties.

From the grand mansions of the 1880s to the prestigious apartment towers of the 1920s and today’s spectacular lakefront penthouses, this is the fascinating story of how Chicago’s richest neighborhood evolved.

Some magnificent mansions survived. Many disappeared forever. But the Gold Coast’s reputation for wealth, elegance, and exclusivity remains.

Which would you prefer: a magnificent Gilded Age mansion overlooking Lake Michigan or a luxurious Gold Coast penthouse with spectacular skyline views? Let us know in the comments!

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