Many of South Michigan Avenue 's elegant villas were destroyed in the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 . The post-fire South Side of Chicago grew rapidly as all economic classes left the city 's center . Many of Chicago 's elite families settled along Prairie Avenue . By the 1870s and 1880s , Prairie Avenue was the location of elaborate houses between 16th Street and 22nd Street ( now Cermak Road ) . In 1886 , the urban elite , including George Pullman , Marshall Field , Philip Armour and John B. Sherman all owned family homes in this area that created an opulent Prairie Avenue streetscape reminiscent of European city streets ; as such , it was widely regarded as the city 's most fashionable neighborhood . Businesses , such as the Pullman Company , Armour & Company and D.H. Burnham & Company , with ties to Prairie Avenue had national and international reach and impact . Additional grand homes ( including many Queen Anne Style architecture and Richardsonian Romanesque ) were located on Prairie between 26th and 30th Streets starting in the mid-1880s . The last mansion , a three-story Georgian Revival residence with 21 rooms , was built in the district at 2126 Prairie Avenue in 1905
Great Chicago Fire
Great Chicago Fire
Prairie Avenue