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Lathrop Homes
Bounded roughly by Clybourn Avenue, Leavitt Street, Damen Avenue and the
Chicago River, Chicago
(Robert DeGolyer, Jens Jensen, et. al., 1935-38)
The Julia C. Lathrop Homes are one of the city’s oldest and most unique
public housing complexes. In an attempt to eradicate Chicago’s
Depression-era slums, Mayor Edward Kelly allocated WPA funds to the design
of humane public housing complexes. An architectural “dream team”, headed by
Robert DeGolyer, was assembled for the task which included landscape |
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architect Jens Jensen, Prairie School architects Hugh M.G. Garden and
Tallmadge & Watson, along with Hubert Burnham (Daniel Burnham’s son). Thirty
buildings—a combination of two-story row houses and three- and four-story
apartment blocks—were built on 35 acres of near-north side riverfront land.
Expansive open spaces, curving walkways, and beautiful vistas characterize
the site.
In July of 2006, the Chicago
Housing Authority announced plans to raze the entire complex to build 1,200
new mixed-income apartments, condominiums, and town homes—a plan opposed by
some of the Homes’ current residents and local neighborhood associations. In
an area of Chicago now defined by big box developments and gated
communities, Lathrop Homes features a still-innovative site plan with
structurally sound brick buildings that could be reused. Only three
developments of this type were constructed and, with the recent demolition
of the Jane Addams Homes on Chicago’s near West Side, the loss of the
Lathrop Homes would erase one of the last remaining examples of the city’s
early public housing legacy.
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 What Can I Do?
Urge the Mayor and Alderman Manny Flores to push for a redevelopment solution
that includes preservation. Contact Mayor Richard Daley, Office of the Mayor
City Hall - 121 N. LaSalle, Room 507, Chicago, IL 60602 and Alderman Manny
Flores, 1st Ward, 2058 N. Western Ave., Chicago, IL 60647 /
ward01@cityofchicago.org.
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