University Apartments (Chicago, Illinois)
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The University Apartments, also known as the University Park Condominiums, are a pair of ten-story towers in
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
designed by
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
and
Araldo Cossutta Araldo Cossutta (January 11, 1925 – February 24, 2017) was an architect who worked primarily in the United States. He worked at the firm I. M. Pei & Partners from 1956 to 1973. I. M. Pei has been among the most honored architects in the world. ...
. The project was part of a city initiative to revitalize the residential development in Hyde Park just north of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
. Within the Hyde Park neighborhood, they are colloquially known as "Monoxide Island."


History


Rise and fall of Hyde Park

Hyde Park Township was the first suburb of
Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...
and became one of the area's most desirable communities. Following the opening of the
University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, or UChi) is a Private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Its main campus is in the Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood on Chicago's South Side, Chic ...
in 1892 and the
World's Columbian Exposition The World's Columbian Exposition, also known as the Chicago World's Fair, was a world's fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893, to celebrate the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the New World in 1492. The ...
in 1893, the neighborhood became known as a retreat for the wealthy intellectual community. Hyde Park, which was annexed in 1889, maintained this reputation until the 1920s. The area around 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue, near where the University Apartments stand today, became a haven for taverns and gambling houses, who were banned from operating near the former fairgrounds. Furthermore, the South Side of Chicago experienced an overall decline in residential construction in the 1920s that continued through the
Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
. The older buildings that remained in Hyde Park became dilapidated from lack of upkeep. Wealthy and middle class
White people White is a Race (human categorization), racial classification of people generally used for those of predominantly Ethnic groups in Europe, European ancestry. It is also a Human skin color, skin color specifier, although the definition can var ...
fled the area, as the buildings deteriorated, lower earning and poor families moved in and racist views against the increasing number of black people grew in the area. By the early 1950s, the University of Chicago decided to change the Hyde Park neighborhood. Thomas Wright, the Head of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, and the Social Order Committee of the 57th Street Meeting of Friends met. Although the university at first refused to engage in any community-building activities, the promotion of chancellor
Lawrence A. Kimpton Lawrence Alpheus Kimpton (1910–1973) was an American philosopher and academic administrator, serving as the 6th president of the University of Chicago from 1951 to 1960. He earned a B.A. at Stanford and a Ph.D. in philosophy at Cornell Universit ...
prompted a change in philosophy. The three groups decided to form the South East Chicago Commission in 1952 with the goals of increasing police protection, promoting residential stability, and enforcing building codes. In so doing, the University and neighborhood commission decided that "slum prevention" was their goal. Davarian Baldwin, in his study of the report, summarizes: "physically deteriorating but white‐occupied Hyde Park neighborhood blocks were marked for rehabilitation, while majority black areas became the site targeted for clearance and university acquisition” The organization was able to convince state and federal legislators to provide funding for urban renewal projects.


Project Hyde Park A

The Chicago Land Clearance Commission was created to acquire real estate and begin land clearance for blighted areas in Hyde Park. One of these areas was Project Hyde Park A, a area of Hyde Park between 57th Street, Kimbark Avenue, 54th Place, and the
Illinois Central Railroad The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the Central United States. Its primary routes connected Chicago, Illinois, with New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana, and Mobile, Alabama, and thus, ...
right-of-way A right of way (also right-of-way) is a specific route that people, animals, vehicles, watercraft, or utility lines travel, or the legal status that gives them the right to do so. Rights-of-way in the physical sense include controlled-access h ...
. A redevelopment plan for this area was approved in January 1955, and funding was secured the next month. Most of Hyde Park A was designated for row houses and single-family houses. Over 15,000 residents of Hyde Park were relocated when the substandard buildings were demolished. New construction began in August 1958, led by the University Apartments.
William Zeckendorf William Zeckendorf Sr. (June 30, 1905 – September 30, 1976) was a prominent American real estate developer. Through his development company Webb and Knapp — for which he began working in 1938 and which he purchased in 1949 — he developed ...
of
Webb and Knapp Webb and Knapp was a real estate development firm. The company is most famous for developing the Roosevelt Airfield, which was the launching site of the transatlantic flights of Charles Lindbergh and Amelia Earhart. It was also the firm at which ...
commissioned architect
I. M. Pei Ieoh Ming Pei
– website of Pei Cobb Freed & Partners
( ; ; April 26, 1917 – May 16, 2019) was ...
to design two ten-story apartment buildings for the project;
Araldo Cossutta Araldo Cossutta (January 11, 1925 – February 24, 2017) was an architect who worked primarily in the United States. He worked at the firm I. M. Pei & Partners from 1956 to 1973. I. M. Pei has been among the most honored architects in the world. ...
was the design associate within Pei's firm. The project was designed in collaboration with Loewenberg & Loewenberg. Zeckendorf and Pei had worked together since 1948 and had previously designed other large-scale housing developments, including the
Kips Bay Towers Kips Bay Towers is a 1,118-unit, two-building condominium complex in the Kips Bay neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, New York. The complex was designed by architects I.M. Pei and S. J. Kessler, with the involvement of James Ingo Freed, ...
in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. Pei applied several of his specialized techniques and ideas to the building. The University Apartments followed the Kips Bay idea of using two rectangular slabs to protect and enclose a park. Pei's Denver Hilton project in 1958 proved that frame windows could be made strong enough to support a building. Pei developed a special lightweight concrete for this purpose. This eliminated the need for steel framing; this freed funds for interior projects such as improved lighting and increased interior space. Pei worked with
Harry Weese Harry Mohr Weese (June 30, 1915 – October 29, 1998) was an Americans, American architect who had an important role in 20th-century modernism and historic preservation. His brother, Ben Weese, was also a renowned architect. Early life and educat ...
, who had been commissioned to design row houses for the same project, so that their buildings would relate to each other. The apartment complex was converted to condominiums in 1978. To enhance security, a wrought iron security fence and two security lobbies were added in the ensuing decade. This closed off the central court, which had been used as a public pedestrian walkway. On December 22, 2005, the buildings were recognized by the
National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...
with a listing on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
, citing their contributions to the redevelopment of Hyde Park and their significant architecture. It is a non-contributing property to the Hyde Park – Kenwood Historic District, as it was only eighteen years old at the time of the designation.


Architecture

The University Apartments are on a traffic island on 55th Street stretching two-and-a-half blocks between Harper Avenue on the east and Ridgewood Court on the West. The towers are designed with a load-bearing exterior concrete screen wall. Windows are deeply inset. The buildings are designed so that it looks shorter than its actual length. The University Apartments are in a high density residential community; most of the buildings immediately surrounding the complex were part of Weese's rowhouse project and were built around the same time. Trees line the outer perimeter of the site. The towers, each , are separated by an wide central garden court. The garden court has a large pool with a fountain and two rectangular planter beds. The design is consistent with the
International Style The International Style is a major architectural style and movement that began in western Europe in the 1920s and dominated modern architecture until the 1970s. It is defined by strict adherence to Functionalism (architecture), functional and Fo ...
and is heavily influenced by
Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...
. Each of the towers has a one-floor lobby and nine residential floors; each has 270 apartments. The towers are stabilized with large rectangular pillars rising from subterranean concrete platforms. A 220 car parking garage, four coin laundries, storage, and utility areas are in the basement. Each floor has twelve windows on the east and west and 108 on the north and south ends. Windows measure across including a narrow aluminum frame and are separated by columns. Windows are high and have a arch at the top. Each level extends from floor to ceiling. Seventy-two studio apartments are each roughly , 102 one-bedroom units are either or , and 90 two-bedroom units are , , or . Each tower has two pairs of elevators. The lobbies are accessed by foyers on the north and south ends of the buildings. Each bank of elevators are located near the entrances. In 1988, security stations were installed on the north entrance of the 1451 building and the south entrance on the 1400 building.


References

{{I. M. Pei, state=collapsed Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago International style architecture in Illinois Residential buildings completed in 1961 I. M. Pei buildings