Graceland West
Real Estate and Neighborhood Information

Tucked between the popular Chicago communities of Lakeview, Uptown, Wrigleyville and Andersonville, Graceland West locals enjoy the spillover of entertainment and vitality from the surrounding neighborhoods that attract Chicagoans from all around to hang out, eat, and cheer on their baseball team. But its location, next to the sprawling grounds of the historic Graceland Cemetery, not only inspired the neighborhood name, but also incites an air of peace and a slower pace than other areas in the vicinity.

Considered by most to be the Pére Lachaise (Paris’ largest cemetery) of Chicago, Graceland is the final resting place to the Windy City’s royal merchantry. Potter Palmer, George Pullman, Marshall Fields, Phillip D. Armour and Daniel Burnham are but a few of the luminaries buried here.

Designed by O.C. Simonds, one of Chicago’s most respected landscape architects, the graveyard was built in 1860. It wasn’t long before folks started to construct houses next to the beautiful grounds of the city’s most talked-about cemetery, and soon a thriving residential area followed. The land directly west of the burial site—aptly called Graceland West—was settled between the 1870s and 1900 as a retreat from hectic city life. The original real estate campaign championed quaint countryside where tall trees grow and properties boast spacious lots. As the years progressed, though, the open green plots of land filled in with rows of tightly-packed housing along a well-defined grid of streets.

These days, despite its close proximity to other urbanized areas, sections of Graceland West still maintain a bit of its distinctive past characteristics as a rural haven. Many of the homes are still surrounded by plenty of green grass, set back from the road on lots that are twice the size of most city properties. And, because of its prime spot in the dead center of Chicago’s north side, Graceland West continues to be a very desirable locale for Chicagoans who prefer to feel like they’re a little more removed from the action, but appreciate the neighborhood’s accessibility.