Living in Auburn Gresham: a neighborhood guide

The lay of the land

Auburn Gresham is bungalow country at full strength: the brick belt’s southern arc runs through here in unbroken rows, porches aligned, lawns kept, one of the densest collections of the Chicago bungalow anywhere. 79th Street is the main street and the story: long a commercial spine, it has been adding new anchors, health, grocery, community, built by neighborhood institutions that decided not to wait, with the St. Sabina campus long the most visible of them.

Foster Park’s fieldhouse, courts and pool hold down the south end, and the Dan Ryan Woods rise just east across the tracks.

Getting around

The Red Line’s 79th and 87th stops sit at the neighborhood’s eastern edge, buses run the mile grid, and drivers reach the Ryan in minutes. Metra’s Rock Island trains run the Vincennes corridor at the neighborhood’s shoulder for a seat-and-a-schedule alternative.

The housing stock

Brick bungalows above all, with Georgians, Cape Cods and two-flats mixed through, most long owner-kept and many never listed in decades. When one does list, condition tells you everything; bring our brick guide and seasonal checklist to the showing, and the home styles field guide will have you telling a Chicago bungalow from a Georgian at a glance.

The neighborhoods inside Auburn Gresham

Auburn Gresham is community area 71 of Chicago’s 77, on the Far Southwest Side. The names people use inside it: Gresham.

The community areas have been the city’s official map since the 1920s; the neighborhood names inside them are the ones people use. All 77 on one interactive map.

Guides worth reading before you tour here

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