The National Park Service administers the official national list of historic places worthy of preservation, called the National Register of Historic Places. Within the Beverly Hills and Morgan Park communities, there is currently one historic district recognized on the National Register, the Ridge Historic District.
The Ridge Historic District, established in 1976, is one of the largest national historic districts in the country, containing approximately 3,200 buildings within the 1200 acres of its irregular shaped borders. It is roughly bounded by 87th and 115th Streets, from Prospect to Hamilton Avenues.
There’s 59 buildings (plus one historic marker, one fountain, and the Dan Ryan Woods) on the original 1976 application that are considered as officially “contributing” to the district. Other buildings within the historic district can be designated as “contributing” through the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO), typically when applying for financial incentives.
Owning a property in the Ridge Historic District is a wonderful distinction. You aren’t just a property owner; you are a steward of a nationally recognized historic neighborhood. This designation is intended to:
Foster community pride: Uniting residents around the shared goal of maintaining one of the country’s largest and most unique historic districts.
Celebrate our shared history: Encouraging you and your neighbors to preserve and highlight the defining architectural details of your building.
Protect neighborhood character: Discouraging insensitive development or exterior alterations that could detract from the area’s historic cohesiveness.
Here is the original nomination form:
Rendering PDF…