Walking Tour
The Maxwell Street Foundation offers walking tours of the Maxwell Street neighborhood by appointment, sharing insights into the architecture, history and cultures—along with plenty of entertaining anecdotes. Facades from former buildings cited as “…possessing historical or architectural distinction in the context of the immediate community” in the Chicago Historic Resources Survey (Chicago Landmarks Commission, 1983-92) are featured on the tour. In 1997-98, Maxwell Street Foundation and Advisory Council members worked with university officials and developers to ultimately produce an Amended and Reinstated Agreement that preserved eight buildings and twelve facades in what is now University Village Marketplace on the University of Illinois at Chicago’s South Campus.
This walking tour of the redeveloped Maxwell Street neighborhood references the following documents and publications: Phase I Archeological and Historical Evaluation of the Maxwell Street Area, prepared by Archeological Research, Inc., 1994; Maxwell Street Market Historic District, National Register Nomination Form, submitted by Lori Grove and Elliot Zashin, 1994; Blues Legends, authored by Chuck Cowdery, 1995; Chicago’s Maxwell Street, co-authored by Lori Grove and Laura Kamedulski, Arcadia Publishing, Inc., 2002, and; 1352 S. Union Street, Chicago, Illinois, authored by Nicola Spasoff, Ph.D., 2008.
Take your own tour here. With this interactive map, you can tour the Maxwell Street neighborhood on your own with your smartphone. Or you can virtually visit from anywhere. Click on the markers above and you’ll get tidbits of each building’s history and architecture.
Note: Guided walking tours offered by the Maxwell Street Foundation are by appointment only. Tours take approximately 1.5 hours, rain or shine, and are 6.5 city blocks in walking distance. $5.00 for adults; students free. Stay for lunch at the local food stands and restaurants! Street parking available, and also in the UIC Parking Garage at 701 W. Maxwell St.
To schedule a walking tour, please email us at .
