Norwood Park
Harlem, Bryn Mawr, Nagle and Avondale

Old Norwood Park was designed to be a park-like residential neighborhood with large lots, wide streets and elegant singlefamily homes. It curvilinear street pattern, unusual for Chicago, surrounds several large parks. The early Victorian homes were joined over time by Tudor, American four square, bungalow and ranch-style homes, many designed by noted architects such as Frost & Granger, George C. Nimmons, William C. Jones, George F. Lovdall, William Presto, Dewey & Pavlovich, Gustav Pearson, Benedict J. Bruns, Lyman J. Allison, Axel Teisen, Theis J. Reynertson and Olsen & Urbain. A long-time cornerstone of the community is the threatened Norwegian Old Peoples Home designed by Giaver & Dinkelberg. The Chicago Historic Resources Survey lists 271 Norwood Park buildings as significant with 81 of them rated orange.

History
Old Norwood Park is a National Register district bounded by Harlem, Bryn Mawr, Nagle and Avondale, in the Northwest Corner of Chicago close to Niles. It was made a National Register District in 2002. It includes what some consider the oldest house in Chicago — the 1833 Noble-Seymour-Crippen House that is also home to the Norwood Park Historical Society. The December 2007 issue of Chicago magazine includes an article about the “battle” between the Clark House and the Noble House for the title of oldest house in Chicago. On a yearly basis since 1980, the Norwood Park Historical Society has been seeking landmark designation for a district and individual buildings in the community. In 1986, the City of Chicago identified a large historic district, but forward movement stopped there despite ongoing work by neighborhood activists. In 1988, the Noble House became the only building landmarked by Chicago.The house was made a National Register Landmark in 2000.

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