The American Institute of Architects “AIA Guide to Chicago” says that Park Tower Condominiums’ “beautifully detailed and proportioned curtain wall stands out among Edgewater’s lakeside cliff of dreary high-rises.” Although the AIA guide fails to appreciate those high-rises’ kitchen-sink charm and refusal to adhere to conventional ideas of beauty, we must admit that the 54-story tower at 5415 N Sheridan Rd looks like a tardy cheerleader forced to eat lunch in the cafeteria’s only open seat, with the yearbook staff and assorted mathletes.
Situated between a row of drab shops and a classic North Sheridan ugly duckling, Park Tower stands sleek and smooth over its frumpy neighbors. Emporis lists 5415 N Sheridan Rd as the second tallest building outside the Loop and one of only three residential towers “with black Miesian windows and three rounded lobes.”
To say that this high-rise, designed by Solomon, Cordwell, Buenz and Associates is “Miesian,” however, is a little like saying Elizabeth I was Elizabethan. More than a few passersby have done double takes when seeing this tower from the Drive, thinking they were looking at Lake Point Tower or another of SCB’s imitations of a Miesian idea, Harbor Point Tower, both in Streeterville.
But Edgewater prices are a lot more palatable than those around Navy Pier. A price of $200K gets a one-bedroom in Edgewater’s imitation Mies, the 5400 block of Sheridan’s crown jewel. More photos.
