Edgewater

5735-5737 N Broadway terra cotta detail

5735-5737 N Broadway terra cotta detail

1316 and 1318 W Norwood

1316 and 1318 W Norwood

Belle Shore Apartment Hotel

Belle Shore Apartment Hotel

6222 N Lakewood roof and dormer detail

6222 N Lakewood roof and dormer detail

Epworth Methodist Church

Epworth Methodist Church

Edgewater is one of the most densely packed areas for fantastic architecture, the community has a variety of neighborhoods filled with unique homes, places of worship, schools, civic and commercial buildings. There are building styles that stretch farther and wider than almost any other area can muster and there are exemplary works by the likes of Holabird and Roche, Dwight Perkins, Pond and Pond, Walter Burley Griffin, Henry Schlacks, William Carbys Zimmerman, and George Maher, and homegrown architects like Roy Knauer, John Pridmore, Edward Benson and Edmund Krause that helped build the Edgewater communities.

From beginnings as uninhabited brush, to early roots as a farmland, the area was first developed by a Philadelphia tobacco salesman named John Lewis Cochran who bought some farmland and began subdividing his lots in 1885. He named the area Edgewater, appropriate to its lakefront local, and developed much of the area. He is responsible for naming many of the streets and some of the homes in his five original developments are still standing and will be on the tour. Many other entrepreneurial developers contributed with their own developments, that along with Cochran’s helped Edgewater become known for its neighborhoods. Edgewater Glen, Andersonville, Edgewater Beach, Lakewood-Balmoral and several other smaller neighborhoods and historic districts help make up this diverse Community.

Starting Spot: Emerson Park @ 1820 W Granville Ave
Route: view route details
Photo Album: view photo album
Selected Sites: view selected sites

Next date for the Tour of Edgewater

  • September 2014

Past dates for the Tour of Edgewater

  • January 21, 2012
  • September 14, 2013
Tour of Edgewater 2012 Poster by Ross Felton

Tour of Edgewater 2012 Poster by Ross Felton