SAH Archipedia New Content: Chicago’s Public Housing

by SAH News | Jul 25, 2022

We are pleased to announce the publication of ten new building entries in SAH Archipedia. Focusing on the complicated history of Chicago’s public housing sites, these entries were written by Lake Forest College students under the direction of Professor Cristina Groeger and in collaboration with the Society of Architectural Historians. The entries include the Chicago Housing Authority’s (CHA) development known as the ABLA Homes, an acronym for four separate public housing projects: Jane Addams Homes, Robert Brooks Homes, Loomis Courts, and Grace Abbott Homes. Other featured sites include Altgeld Gardens, Dearborn Homes, Wentworth Gardens, the Henry Horner Homes, and Trumbull Park Homes. Many of these buildings have since been demolished or renovated to accommodate the CHA’s work in the early 2000s to redevelop its public housing sites into mixed-income housing.

This project was funded by Lake Forest College’s Humanities 2020, a 4-year $1.1M grant from the Mellon Foundation. The grant is a partnership initiative to enhance and advance humanities education through deep engagement with issues of racism in Chicago; to demonstrate the mutual benefit that partnering institutions will derive from collaboration; and to produce meaningful public benefits for the Chicagoland area.

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Founded in 1940, the Society of Architectural Historians is an international nonprofit membership organization that promotes the study, interpretation and conservation of architecture, design, landscapes and urbanism worldwide. SAH serves a network of local, national and international institutions and individuals who, by profession or interest, focus on the built environment and its role in shaping contemporary life. SAH promotes meaningful public engagement with the history of the built environment through advocacy efforts, print and online publications, and local, national and international programs.
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SAH thanks The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
for its operating support.
Society of Architectural Historians
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