Bette Burgess - Elmhurst and Millennium Park
Dan Knapp - Riverside
Gene Ramsay - Graceland Cemetery
Hugh Keenan - Chicago Theatre


Druid Hills or Riverside: Which one is better?
By Dan Knapp, Druid Hills and Historic Downtown guide

Should he or shouldn’t he? That was definitely the question. I had three great choices for the third weekend in October: bike riding with my friends along the Erie Canal; riding with my little sister Barbara in the annual “Hilly Hundred” in Bloomington Indiana; or taking the historical tour of Chicago with the Atlanta Preservation Center. All great choices …. how could I possibly choose? I finally concluded that the Chicago tour was a once in a lifetime opportunity. The “Hilly” happens every October, and I could always ride the Erie Canal by myself, right? But it wasn’t just the lure of Chicago, a city I have loved since my early youth; it was RIVERSIDE!

I became an APC tour guide for Druid Hills earlier this year. During my training I quickly learned that Frederick Law Olmsted designed Druid Hills in 1893. By that year, Olmsted was already famous: Central Park in New York City, the Biltmore Estate in Ashville, NC, and the grounds around the Capital Building in Washington D.C., just to name a few. Olmsted originated the term “Landscape Architect.” His mantra was “form and function follow nature.” His first large residential planned community was for a new neighborhood called “The Village of Riverside” located about 8 miles southwest of Chicago – WAY out in the boonies for 1860s Chicago. He drew up the design with his partner in 1868 and the first house was completed in 1869. The plan was revolutionary for its time: curvilinear streets (rarely meeting at right angles), houses facing parks within the neighborhood, sidewalks, underground drainage, and houses much farther from the street (with “private roads” i.e. each house would have its own driveway – can you imagine that?). The neighborhood was a smashing success and caught nationwide attention, including the eye of Joel Hurt of Atlanta, Georgia. Hurt (aka ‘The Trolley Car King’) had already developed Inman Park in Atlanta by the early 1890s and personally went to inspect Riverside in Chicago. He was immediately sold and became determined for Atlanta to have a similar concept. He commissioned Olmsted and the Druid Hills plan was drawn shortly thereafter.

So, did Druid Hills end up looking like Riverside? In my opinion … no … yes …. sort of … maybe? Yes, there are some similarities, but let’s take a look at how the neighborhoods differ. First you have to consider the relative location. Druid Hills was on the edge of town when it got underway, but it was still a pleasant 3-mile trolley car ride to the central business district. Riverside was out in the country in the middle of a prairie, and an 8-mile TRAIN ride from the city. Riverside has its own train station, while Druid Hills no longer enjoys rail service (even when it did, the neighborhood was simply a trolley stop). Riverside also has a core Village area for shopping and small business, in effect a small planned ‘downtown.’ Druid Hills has commercial activity on the fringes, but the neighborhood was not planned with a central core in mind. It was billed as “fresh country living” and commercial activity was not considered an amenity (after zoning restrictions expired more commercial development encroached). Druid Hills appears to have more churches now, but originally it had none. Again, zoning had to change, and most churches were not built in Druid Hills until the 1950s. Churches were part of the Riverside plan, including the stately Riverside Presbyterian Church built in 1897 (originally built in 1879, but destroyed by fire). Party-city Atlanta vs. the staid Chicago churchgoers? I’m not sure what Olmsted had in mind on this one.

Another big difference is simply caused by the lay of the land. Riverside is surrounded on three sides by a small river. This adds a pleasant visual dimension but also made it logical to put the neighborhood parks in the center of the development. Druid Hills has its distinctive Linear Park System, six parks in all stretching for almost two miles along Ponce de Leon Avenue. The Olmsted Linear Park ( Atlanta’s second largest park) is on the far south edge of Druid Hills.

There also are some other distinct differences between the two neighborhoods. For example, while both have ‘curvilinear’ streets, Riverside’s are much more pronounced. Druid Hills streets seem to softly bend while Riverside streets seem to collapse upon each other (more like the Ansley Park street pattern). Several of Druid Hills streets meet at right angles, while NONE do in Riverside (at least not in Section I, the oldest and most interesting area). The house styles are also quite different: Riverside is very traditional. You will see many Queen Anne Victorians, American Four Square, Italianate, and Shingle styles. A notable exception: the Frank Lloyd Wright 1908 Prairie Style Avery Country House. Druid Hills is proudly known for its traditional styles, but also has many mixed traditional styles, and even some eclectic style houses. While most of Riverside (the older Section One) was developed in the late 1800s, most of Druid Hills was not built until the 1920s (a banking panic and lack of capital delayed the 1893 play). Architects in Druid Hills (including notables such as Philip Schutze, Lilia Ross Wilburn, and Neel Reid) readily incorporated various architectural styles per the wishes of well traveled clients. Interestingly, Olmsted also designed some of the houses in Riverside but none in Druid Hills. Remember, when he designed Riverside it was still early in his career and he was probably still taking work as he found it.

The result of the differences is that Druid Hills has a much more uniform and proper feel as compared to Riverside’s ever flowing design. Riverside started as a train commuter neighborhood and remains so today. Druid Hills is now considered very “close in” and is very auto orieinted. Interestingly, both neighborhoods have a similar price range, with stately homes generally starting at $1,000,000+.

So which one is “better”? Sorry, if you really want to know the answer to that one you have to take one of my Druid Hills tours: Saturday mornings at 10:00 A.M. March through November. I’ll see you on the sidewalk in front of St. John’s Lutheran Church, corner of Ponce and Oakdale ($10 donation for adults, $5 for students and seniors; free to APC members).

 

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