As far as the geographical layout of Chicago neighborhoods goes, Old Norwood Park is rather unique. Unlike most of Chicago, the design of Old Norwood Park avoided the typical grid pattern. Instead it followed a model laid out by Riverside (a neighborhood on Chicago’s east side designed by famed landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted) that utilizes mostly winding and circular streets, with occasional angular roads. Churches are scattered about on the irregularly angled street corners, many of the structures having been built decades before any of us were born. Additionally, the streets of Old Norwood Park are packed with trees and other greenery, so a neighborhood stroll is a pleasant and shaded experience.

Old Norwood Park real estate offers a decent amount of variety—from Cape Cods and ranches to bungalows and Georgians—and most on lots a bit larger than average for the city. Single-family homes are common and are often built off alleys that provide access to private garages as well as neighborhood walkways. As you might expect from a neighborhood with 'old' in its title, Old Norwood Park also contains a number of well-maintained Victorian houses dating back to the nineteenth century.

Along Old Norwood Park’s winding roads and spacious lots there are large homes with lush green yards and elegant landscaping. Some sit back from the road, tucked in among mature trees while others are closer to the street allowing residents to make good use of the wrap-around porches. The average sale price for a three-bedroom home is about $490,000, but the grand Old Norwood homes (which often have four or more bedrooms) easily surpass the million dollar mark.

In 1833, a man named Mark Noble became one of the area’s first European settlers. He constructed a house for himself that would not have been terribly impressive if not for the fact that it’s still standing today. The Noble-Seymour-Crippen House (5624 N. Newark Ave.) is believed to be Chicago’s oldest surviving building. The rather unassuming structure also possesses additions constructed by Thomas Seymour, the principal developer of the Norwood Park area, who lived in the house at the turn of the century (from nineteenth to twentieth). More additions were added by the Stuart Crippen family, thus entirely explaining the home’s rather lengthy title.

Old Norwood Park Homes for Sale