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One of the country’s most complete Chinatowns, five minutes from the Loop: a century of commerce under the Wentworth gate, a riverfront park with dragon boats and a water taxi dock, and the Sox playing at the neighborhood’s south end.
Chicago’s Chinese community moved south from the Loop around 1912 and built along Wentworth and Cermak, and the neighborhood has grown continuously since, one of the few American Chinatowns whose population has kept rising. The 1928 Pui Tak Center, with its glazed terra cotta towers, is the landmark centerpiece, the Nine Dragon Wall glints on Cermak, and Chinatown Square’s two-level plaza extends the district north toward the river.
Armour Square, the official community area, runs south from there past Armour Square Park to Rate Field, where the White Sox play, with quiet brick blocks in between.
Ping Tom Memorial Park turned a rail yard into the neighborhood’s riverfront: a pagoda-style pavilion under the St. Charles Air Line bridge, a boathouse with kayak rentals, and a summer calendar that peaks with the Dragon Boat races. The Chicago Water Taxi docks here in season, which makes the ride downtown a boat trip. The 2015 branch library at Wentworth and Archer, a round glass building that collected national design awards, anchors the other end of the walk.
The food is the reason half the city visits: dim sum halls, Cantonese barbecue windows, hand-pulled noodles, hot pot, and bakeries whose lines start early. Come back for the Lunar New Year parade down Wentworth each winter and the summer fair that closes the street in July.
Brick worker cottages and rowhouses from the rail era, the townhome courts of Chinatown Square and Santa Fe Gardens filling the old yards, condo buildings along Archer, and two-flats on the Armour Square blocks. New construction has been steady near the river. Older brick here sat on wet ground once, so read our foundations guide and brick guide before you tour, and the buyers FAQ covers the rest.
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