The South Shore Cultural Center, previously The South Shore Country Club is considered the jewel of the neighborhood

As one of Chicago South Side’s most desirable neighborhoods, South Shore is home to a large proportion of Chicago’s professional African-American community. It has become more diverse in recent years. South Shore is blessed with a large area of lake Michigan, lakefront parks, historical buildings, restaurants and other outstanding businesses.

Chicago’s South Shore is Community Area 43 of the 77 well-defined community areas of the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is a relatively stable and gentrifying neighborhood that has been long neglected. South Shore’s boundaries are 79th Street to 67th Street, Lake Michigan to South Chicago Avenue south of 75th Street and IC Rail Road north of 75h Street. At the northern end of South Shore is the historic district Jackson Park which is a sub-neighborhood of South Shore.

Jackson Park Highlands which is one of Chicago’s greatest examples of structural history and 19th-Century architecture has an abundance of homes in the style of American Four-Square, Colonial Revival, and Renaissance Revival on suburban sized lots.

The South Shore Cultural Center, previously The South Shore Country Club is considered the jewel of the neighborhood, which began as a lakefront retreat for the wealthiest of Chicago’s movers and shakers. Marshall and Fox, architects of the Drake, Blackstone, and Edgewater Beach Hotels, were hired to design an opulent, Mediterranean-style clubhouse for a membership that included Chicago’s most prominent families. The grounds provided private stables and members-only beach, and golf course. Tennis, horseback riding, and skeet shooting were enjoyed by guests the likes of Jean Harlow, Will Rogers, and Amelia Earhart. Between the first and second World Wars, a housing boom brought a development of luxury cooperative apartments and mansions to the neighborhood surrounding the club. In 1974 the club held its last members-only event.

Today, the Chicago Park District owns the property. It has been restored to its original design and is now open to the public. Located in the Bryn Mawr section of South Shore is the Allan Miller House located at 7121 South Paxton Avenue. Commissioned by advertising executive Allan Miller, this home is an excellent example of Prairie-style architecture. Built in 1915, it is Chicago’s only surviving building designed by John Van Bergen, a former member of Frank Lloyd Wright’s architecture firm.