Julia C. Lathrop Homes is a

Chicago Housing Authority The Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) is a municipal corporation that oversees public housing within the city of Chicago. The agency's Board of Commissioners is appointed by the city's mayor, and has a budget independent from that of the city of ...

(CHA)

public housing Public housing is a form of housing tenure in which the property is usually owned by a government authority, either central or local. Although the common goal of public housing is to provide affordable housing, the details, terminology, def ...

project located along the line between the Lincoln Park and North Center neighborhoods on the north side of

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...

, United States. It is bordered by the neighborhoods of Bucktown and Roscoe Village. Completed in 1938 by the Public Works Administration, Lathrop Homes was one of the first Chicago public housing projects. Lathrop Homes was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2012 and is currently undergoing restoration. Lathrop Homes consists of two-story brick row houses and three- and four-story apartment buildings separated by landscaped courtyards and linked by small archways in a campus-like arrangement.Lathrop Homes: RFQ Released
, Featured Advocacy Efforts, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois. There are a total of 925 units on 35.5 acres of land (approximately three and a half square blocks).Julia C. Lathrop Homes
Chicago's Seven Most Threatened Buildings 2007,

Preservation Chicago Preservation Chicago is a historic preservation advocacy group in Chicago, Illinois, which formally commenced operations on October 23, 2001.

(pdf)

History

Named for social reformer Julia Clifford Lathrop, Lathrop Homes was one of the city's first public housing projects. The homes were built by the Public Works Administration in 1938 and initially leased to the Chicago Housing Authority.Harvey M. Choldin
"Chicago Housing Authority,"
Electronic Encyclopedia of Chicago, Chicago Historical Society, 2005. The buildings were designed in a Prairie School, Arts and Crafts style with details in a range of styles from

Art Moderne Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In industrial design ...

Colonial Revival The Colonial Revival architectural style seeks to revive elements of American colonial architecture. The beginnings of the Colonial Revival style are often attributed to the Centennial Exhibition of 1876, which reawakened Americans to the archit ...

.Alan G. Brake
"Eyes on the Project: Top tier team to rethink, not raze, PWA housing gem,"
''Architects Newspaper'', February 19, 2012. The designers were a "dream team" led by Robert S. De Golyer and also including Hugh M.G. Garden, Thomas E. Tallmadge, Vernon Watson, E.E. Roberts, Charles White and Hubert Burnham, with landscaping by

Jens Jensen Jens Jensen may refer to: * Jens Jensen (footballer) (1890–1957), Danish football (soccer) player who played one game for the Denmark national football team * Jens Jensen (landscape architect) (1860–1951), Danish-born landscape architect in Chi ...

.Lathrop Homes
, Chicagoland Watch List, Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois, 2010. In 1959, the authority added an 8-story building to house seniors to the south side of the project.Ian Fullerton
"Historic tag for Lathrop? State agency recommends housing complex for national landmark status"
, ''Skyline'' December 15, 2010. In keeping with the federal neighborhood segregation policy of the time, the development was intended for whites only. As the development matured, it became racially integrated,Megan Cottrell
"Residents, public housing officials at odds over mixed-income development plan,"
''Chi-Town Daily News'', October 24, 2008. and has been called "the city's most diverse public housing neighborhood".

Crime and gangs

In recent decades, the Julia C. Lathrop homes have been subject to many of the same problems of increasing crime as other housing projects in Chicago, including narcotics trafficking and gang activity. The housing project was dominated by the Latin Kings street gang.

Proposed redevelopment

In July 2006, the Chicago Housing Authority announced its intention to demolish the Lathrop Homes and redevelop the site. Residents and preservationists protested and

Landmarks Illinois The Landmarks Preservation Council of Illinois – also known as Landmarks Illinois – is a not-for-profit organization founded in 1971 to prevent the demolition of the Dankmar Adler and Louis Sullivan designed Chicago Stock Exchange Building. A ...

developed a plan to renovate the complex as affordable "

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combi ...

" housing. In early 2011, the authority cleared residents from the north end of the development; in November 2011, it awarded the redevelopment contract for the site to a team with experience in architectural preservation and sustainability. In October 2012, the Chicago Housing Authority approved the demolition of 1800 units including some from Lathrop Homes; however, how many of those demolitions relate to Lathrop Homes and when demolition would begin was not announced."CHA approves demolition plan"

WBEZ WBEZ (91.5 FM) – branded ''WBEZ 91.5'' – is a non-commercial educational radio station licensed to serve Chicago, Illinois, and primarily serving the Chicago metropolitan area. Financed by corporate underwriting, government funding and lis ...

, October 16, 2012.

National Register of Historic Places

In 1994, the

Illinois Historic Preservation Agency The Illinois Historic Preservation Division, formerly Illinois Historic Preservation Agency, is a governmental agency of the U.S. state of Illinois, and is a division of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. It is tasked with the duty of m ...

and the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an agency of the United States federal government within the U.S. Department of the Interior that manages all national parks, most national monuments, and other natural, historical, and recreational propert ...

determined the Julia C. Lathrop Homes to be eligible for listing on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

. In December 2010, the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council advised that it be listed. It was listed on the National Register .

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Residential buildings completed in 1938 Public housing in Chicago Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago Tallmadge & Watson buildings Public Works Administration in Illinois