USA

By 1900, Chicago's crème de la crème had had enough of the scum de la scum in the nearby neighborhoods. Potter Palmer led a procession of millionaires north to new mansions on the Gold Coast. The once-pristine neighborhood fell into quick decline as mansions gave way to warehouses and industry, hookers and gin. Thanks to the efforts of the Chicago Architecture Foundation, a few of the prime homes from the area have also been carefully restored.

Streets have been closed off, making the neighborhood a good place to stroll. A footbridge over the train tracks links the area to Burnham Park and the Museum Campus.

The John J Glessner House (312-326-1480; www.glessnerhouse.org; 1800 S Prairie Ave, admission free Wed; tours 13:00 & 15:00 Wed-Sun) is the premier survivor of the neighborhood. Famed American architect Henry Hobson Richardson took full advantage of the corner site for this beautiful composition of rusticated granite. Built from 1885 to 1887, the L-shaped house, which surrounds a sunny southern courtyard, got a 100-year jump on the modern craze for interior courtyards. Much of the home's interior looks like an English manor house, with heavy wooden beams and details. More than 80% of the current furnishings are authentic, thanks to the Glessner family's penchant for family photos.

The nearby Henry B Clarke House (312-326-1480; 1827 S Indiana Ave; tours adult/child around 10/around 5, admission free Wed; ;tours noon & 14:00 Wed-Sun) is the oldest structure in the city. When Caroline and Henry Clarke built this imposing Greek Revival home in 1836, log cabins were still the rage in Chicago residential architecture. The sturdy frame paid off - during the past 160 years the house has been moved twice to escape demolition. The present address is about as close as researchers can get to its somewhat undefined original location. The interior has been restored to the period of the Clarkes' occupation, which ended in 1872. A combination ticket to tour both the Clarke and Glessner houses is available.

You can't visit the following houses, but you still can admire them from the outside. Modeled after 15th-century French châteaus, the William K Kimball House (1801 S Prairie Ave) dates from 1890 to 1892. Both it and the Romanesque Joseph G Coleman House (1811 S Prairie Ave) now serve as the incongruous headquarters for the US Soccer Federation. Limestone puts a glitzy facade on the brick Elbridge G Keith House (1900 S Prairie Ave), an early 1870 home.