Hawthorne House

VIEWS, LOCATION & SERVICE
Love the newly renovated lobby!
The #1 full amenity high rise on Lake Shore Drive in Lakeview East by far!

For an apartment on N Lake Shore Dr., Hawthorne House is one of the best of its kind.
The parking garage staff is incredible (shoutout to GQ, who always has my car ready at the time I need it) and the staff is overall attentive and maintains a clean, happy environment.
The location is very close to a bus stop (Hawthorne and Lake Shore), which is great for N/​S travel in Chicago. It is always safe, even when taking the CTA bus at night. Also, having the front desk person hail a cab is very simple and automated with a light that turns on. It is smooth and I have never had difficulties with cabs or lyfts or ubers, who all know where Hawthorne House is.
The VIEW is incredible. If you want a lot of natural light, this is your place. The windows are wonderful in all the living rooms I have seen in the building. It is a serene view. (My number 1 favorite thing about HH).
Tenants are all different ages as well as have a broad range of cultural demographics. Those tenants with young children are courteous of loudness, at least from my experience on the 21^st floor.
The package center is, in my opinion, very well organized and open at good times. On 3 days of the week, it is open until 5PM, and for the other 2 nights, it is open until 9PM for tenants who work late or have evening commitments.
I give it ⁴⁄₅ stars as opposed to ⁵⁄₅ stars for the following reasons:
— There is a lot of construction going on, although that is the case for a majority of high rises in Chicago (we have 2 seasons: Winter and Construction).
— I wish the parking payment system was online like the rent. It is oldschool and tricky to remember to write a check each month for parking.
— It is a little far from the Red Line, but that is completely a choice. Many tenants likely do not use the CTA at all. We are fortunate to have a bus stop right in front of the building.

Building management has been helpful in getting my internet problem resolved but it is not resolved. You should avoid RCN cable. There are serious problems with the wiring for RCN in the building. My cable/​TV was out for about a month, then back on for a few weeks and is now out again. It is a «tier» problem which RCN seems to have a lot of problems fixing. RCN is very unhelpful trying to get it fixed. Update: ⁵⁄₁₁. My cable has been out for over a week. RCN was just here again. Nothing is fixed and my cable will likely be out for at least another week.

3 words: Never. ending. construction. If you don’t have a 9 – 5 job where you will be out of the building on weekdays then I highly suggest you don’t move here. The drilling has been non-​stop torture on weekdays for the past year and a half and it is absolutely miserable. Other than that the building is great, friendly people, nice views etc etc but if I had known the length of time this construction would go on and how much it would test my patience I certainly would have thought twice about moving here.

I love living here — the doormen and service staff are always friendly & helpful and if you make an effort to get to know them they treat you even better. I’ve always felt extremely safe, and any service/​repair issues I had they addressed right away.
It’s definitely an aging building — the apartments atheistically are a little dated but they take good care of the units, and of you, so it’s a trade off. The gym is decent and laundry is pretty standard as well. The units are a pretty good price for the views and the location.
The only irritation about living here is your lease renewal options — they ding you on increasing the utility fee from year to year even if you choose to renew for the full year. If you choose to do month to month they raise your rates to an amount that it just makes better sense to leave. It’d also be nice to be able to pay your rent online without a huge service fee, otherwise you’re stuck writing paper checks.

I have lived here for 20+ years and have nothing but positive things to say. The office staff is fabulous, the maintenance staff is above reproach, and the garage guys are the best. I have not one complaint! This is my home and will be until I leave in the pine box or go to the assisted living facility. The location is great, the maintenance is fabulous, the people are the best — what else is there?! I love it here
Krys Lordahl

While you can’t beat the views, anyone who works late will be frustrated when trying to get their packages. Residents must either pick them up before 8 or 9pm on Tuesday or wait until Saturday. Residents can’t access their deliveries on Sundays or after business hours during the week. While this might seem like a small price to pay for the view and location, for someone who works long hours, it feels like deliveries are held in package prison.

I lived in Hawthorne House for 2 years and the only reason I moved is because of a new job across country. I loved living at Hawthorne House. As a female who lived alone safety was a major priority and I’m glad I chose to make Hawthorne House my home. The door staff at the front door were always nice and greeted me by name every time I saw them. The office staff was awesome and would help me out whenever I needed it. My studio apartment faced North but I had a slight view of Lake Michigan. Most importantly the apartments are clean and quiet as they have cement floors and fire walls. Laundry is on the second floor which is nice. They have a garage space for rent, free package receiving and just recently started an online community where everyone in the building can post information or list things for sale that is emailed to you should you opt in. I think it was super helpful. Roof top pool with a great view of the Lake and they even do events 2 times a year with free food. The #135, #146 and #151 bus stop is right at the corner and that made it a breeze to commute downtown. Grocery stores and restaurants are one block over on Broadway (yay Treasure Island, Jewel and Walmart!) which was great especially when it was cold outside and I didn’t want to travel far for food. Some complain about the price of rent but you get what you pay for. I’m no millionaire (yet!) but I’d rather pay for quality I definitely recommend Hawthorne House. Hope my review helps :)

This place is amazing. I’ve lived here for roughly 5 years. In fact, I tried to move out, so that I could explore a different neighborhood, and then quickly realized on good I had it.
The door staff, leasing office, and residents are great. Everyone is respectful, and they do a great job of maintaining the property.
I love living here!!!

If I could give them zero stars I absolutely would. When you first move in they are very nice and helpful, but through out the years things get worse and worse. They treat you like you live in a dorm rather than apartment. I’ve never heard of an apartment building that comes into your apartment to check your housekeeping. They are probably covering their butts since there always seems to be some sort of fire or something going on there. They are always doing some sort of construction outside and it is very much a disturbance. The people in the management office seem to care not one bit about their residents. It is absolutely disgusting.

UPDATED: The front desk staff has been replaced with an outside contractor. While there is some ongoing kerfuffle about that, the new people at the front desk are alert, verbal, professional, and friendly! Score!
Great location. Very well taken care of. I think it’s the first respectable on-​the-​level landlord I’ve ever had. They’re always fixing this, cleaning that, or repainting some other thing. The office staff is helpful, the maintenance staff is great – all service requests are done quickly and well. The garage staff is great – a total hoot. Great apartments, beautiful views of the city and the lake. Great amenities. The rooftop pool is beyond. Nice fitness room. Modern clean laundry room. Quiet, professional. It’s peaceful and it makes me happy; I don’t want to move.

I have lived in Hawthorne House for 3 years. I gave them 4 stars because overall I had a great experience here.
Pros:
— Neighborhood: Lots of fun restaurants near by. Bars are close so if you want to grab a drink with friends. I love walking down Hawthorn St. The homes are beautiful and Ann Sathers around the corner is always a fun place to have brunch with friends.
— Bike Storage: If you are an avid cyclist, this is a great place. The lake is easy to access and the bike storage is free.
— Lighting is great. My apartment faced North and was sunny, but not too much direct sunlight. I also had a view of Wrigleyfield and the lake. Very cool.
— Valet parking: The guys there always remember me, will run to get my car without me even having to ask and are overall very nice. Many of them have helped me get groceries out of my car.
— Month to month leasing option: Yes, it is more expensive, but it is MUCH more expensive in other buildings in Chicago. The premium here is about $ 150 per month, which is by far the cheapest I have seen.
— Storage Unit: No additional charge. Most places charge you.
— Mail Service: If you give them permission, they will drop your packages off inside your apt next to the door. I love this service. Makes my life so much easier. I don’t have to keep track of when the mail room is open.
— Staff/​Neighbors: See below.
Con:
— The reason I am moving… They don’t allow dogs. I am getting a puppy. If they did allow my pup, I would definitely being renewing my lease in this building.
My response to some people’s complaints:
— The kitchens: While none of the appliances are the most expensive equipment in the world, they are clean and pretty new looking.
— Washer/​Dryers: They are located on the 2^nd fl. When I first moved in they were kind of gross, I did see some mold, but the management company changed all of the washers and dryers. Now they are completely new!
— Staff/​Neighbors Friendliness: I would list this as a PRO. I am the type of person that I work hard, so my home is my space to decompress. The staff were always nice and helpful to me. Are they the types that is going to give you hugs all the time? No. Which is actually what I like — helpful, nice, but not in my space. As far as neighbors go, most people keep to themselves, which is fine by me. I am friendly with neighbors, but everyone doesn’t have to be my best friend for me to enjoy living in the community.

Hawthorne House is most definitely not the best value for the enormous amount of money that is spent monthly on rent. The apartments lack any sort of character and are rather sterile looking inside. While the view is definitely an asset, only the front facing units have them. The kitchens and bathrooms desperately need to be updated as they look incredibly dated. In the year that I spent living at the dreaded Hawthorne House, there was never a time when all of the elevators worked at one time. It took me up to 10 minutes some mornings to wait for elevators to come down. The laundry room is also disgusting, there was black mold growing in each washing machine and a huge amount of them never even worked which you would come to find after paying $ 1.50.
The staff there is incredibly disrespectul and unhelpful. The doormen with the exception of one look at you with such disdain every time you walked through the door. Despite having lived there for a year, they would still sometimes not even recognize me and refused to let me in if I had forgotten my electronic key fob.
The staff in the leasing office are beyond rude and unaccomodating. Every time you come to them with even a simple request they will act as if it’s completely bothersome to them. They have some of the worst customer service I’ve ever experienced, worse than even Comcast which is saying a lot.
I have yet to figure out how they retain anybody in their units as they are so pretentious and unhelpful. They will charge you for absolutely everything that they can too, down to having to pay $ 25 to replace their stupid rubber wristbands for the pool. We were charged nearly a thousand dollars for a few tiny stains on our carpet upon moving out. They insisted that they had to rip up the carpet and install new carpeting when a good steam clean would have sufficed.
Even the people that live in Hawthrone House are very aloof and unfriendly. I can count on both hands, the number of times anybody ever even said something that was remotely friendly to me.
Hawthorne House is a very cold and unwelcoming place. From the staff to the tenants, nobody is friendly or considerate and I definitely regret wasting a year much less the thousands of dollars in rent living there. Hawthorne House is one of the absolute worst apartment buildings I’ve ever lived in and as a tenant I was not treated with consideration or respect.
I would suggest that anybody think twice before moving in here. There are hundreds of better buildings that have a lot better value and are run a lot more efficiently. It truly is just an awful place to call your «home».

If zero was an option, it would be a kind gesture. The staff is by far the rudest of any Chicago apt building in existence. The door man is a rude, woman hating pig. The maintenence man a weirdo and the elevators take longer than the Bush Gore recount. However, my biggest complaint is with valet. They are THE rudest, slowest, jerks in their line of work. They have thrice refused to give me my car bc of various reasons. The last being bc I had a $ 100 bill. Well valet is $ 25 and you’d assume for a place not accepting credit cards, that shouldn’t be a problem. The jag off precedes to tell me to «go find change» bc he doesn’t have any. I’m 100 lbs and it’s 1 am. I say no chance, if u go to a restaurant and they dont have change, they don’t make u wander the streets. Chances are it’s comped. He truly sees no reason for me to be perplexed to be asked to wander the city looking for change. Rot you creep. Karma sucks. I still don’t have my car, but u bet your booty my lawyer has an email. Mind is blown.

I recently applied for a beautiful corner apartment overlooking Hawthorne Street at the Hawthorne House. I found the staff to be very friendly, courteous and overly accommodating. I have not yet moved in; therefore, this review is going to be incomplete for now. But so far, so good.

My rock, my anchor, my home.
Hawthorne house is a wonderful place to live. It has become a true oasis for me. I moved here under duress-​I was such a mess that by mistake I indicated that I was a ‘felon’ on the rental application. I’m not. Merely, I had to move suddenly and not by choice. I cried so much as I viewed the apartment and filled out the form that they must have thought I was nuts. Lucky for me they let me in.
Sounds odd to say but this place has truly helped me heal from what I was going through. The entire staff that work here are so helpful and kind and truly take pride in keeping this place clean, working efficiently. Its a really pleasant place to live. They take pride in everything, and therefore I take pride in my small but beautiful home.
Some things I love about Hawthorne House:
Everything works and if it doesn’t, they fix it promptly and accurately.
Once a week when you come home the whole building smells lemony-​fresh.
The pool. It looks awesome and I can’t wait to use it this summer. It’s on the 40^th floor-​you can imagine the views. BBQ’s too.
At Christmas they have those straw-​like reindeer that look like they are feeding on the grounds. Sounds cheesy but its not-​I love it.
They always have new plants and flowers on the grounds.
The light and view of the lake from my place is beautiful. The energy vibrant.
The location-​especially if you work downtown, cannot be beat. The 145 or 146 Express bus picks me up right outside and has me down at work in like 12 minutes-​I am spoiled by this!
Packages delivered to your door even if you are not home.
If you like running by the lake you are right there.
Huge closets-​plenty of storage (unless you are a hoarder I guess)
Great staff all around. My guy Arturo is there if I need help hanging a painting or whatever. They are all helpful and kind and thorough.
The laundry room has US magazine and tons of cheesy novels for your perusal.
People who live here are so nice.
p. s. As far as decorating style, to me this is an ideal place for someone who likes a pretty modern, minimalistic style. I used to be kind of cluttery but I’m not at all anymore since living here. While my place is not huge, it feels great for me living here on my own. I am proud to have people over here.

These are really great apartments to rent. Their location is perfect. All the apartments have a great view of the city or the lake. The apartments are really spacious and well kept. The maintenance is great and the management is very easy to get along with. This is a very comfortable place to live!