“Initial massing and density studies have been presented for the potential redevelopment of multiple Cabrini Green sites within the Near North Side. Roughly bound by W Chicago Avenue to the south and W Schiller Street to the north, if fully completed the project will eventually replace multiple vacant lots near downtown.
“Efforts for the redevelopment are being led by the Chicago Housing Authority who built, ran, and demolished the original Cabrini Green complex. Perhaps one of the most famous housing projects in the nation, it was completed in 1962 and housed around 15,000 people across high rises and row homes. However due to neglect from the CHA it quickly fell into disrepair.
“Phased demolition on Cabrini Green commenced in 2015, leaving acres of empty land behind and a large portion of the origins row homes which sit mostly vacant. Now after multiple attempts, CHA has returned with multiple new master plan concepts designed by local firm SCB and presented to the community late last month. They are as follows:
“The most dense of the three, this will take a similar approach as the second and preserve much of the existing street grid. Also saving the occupied rowhomes, it will only preserve eight of the existing rowhomes with 65 units. Meanwhile it will construct 15 new townhomes and around 1,970 multi-family units.
“Centered around Division Street and the intersection between Larrabee Street and Clybourn Avenue, this portion spans around 17 acres near the existing Target and upcoming development at 1450 N Larrabee Street. These will preserve Strangers Home MB Church as well as create new pocket parks.” (Achong, Chicago YIMBY, 8/13/24)
“The Cabrini Row Houses were designed in the early 1940s for an area of the Near North Side near the North Branch of the Chicago River which had been considered a slum by city officials and cited as lacking many modern sanitation standards. The architects of the new Cabrini Row Houses included Henry Holsman, George Burmeister, Maurice Rissman, Ernest Grunsfeld Jr, L.R. Solomon, G. M. Jones, K.M Vitzhum, I.S. Loewenberg, and Frank McNally. These were all recognized names in the world of architecture in Chicago during this time period.
“The western boundary of the Near North Side, near the former Montgomery Ward Warehouse and Administration Building, had originally been settled in Chicago’s early years by mostly Swedish immigrants and known as “Swede Town.” By the 1940s, this area was considered dilapidated and was home to many immigrants and families of Italian, Irish and Puerto Rican descent, along with a growing African-American population. Prior to the construction of the Cabrini Row Houses, this area had been known as “Little Hell,” noting the living and sanitary conditions within many of the 19th-century buildings.
“As a solution to improving the conditions of residents’ lives, 586 new row houses were built in 1942, filling an approximately three-square-block area. These new row houses were constructed to replace the crumbling buildings, house the community’s ever-expanding population, and accommodate war industry workers and veterans during and following World War II. The units averaged 4.41 rooms each, with private bathrooms at a cost of $6,333 per unit. The first residents moved in on August 1, 1942.
“The Cabrini Row Houses were named in honor of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, M.S.C. (1850 – 1917), who was later beatified in 1938 and canonized in 1946 as St. Frances Cabrini. She was recognized as America’s first saint by the Roman Catholic Church.
“The success of the Cabrini Row Houses as a community to house a heavily immigrant and low-income population led to successive expansions of the housing project over the next several decades.
“Yet the lack of regular and general maintenance and repairs led to a disintegration of most of the buildings. Coupled with a large concentration of poverty and the buildings’ disrepair, most of the buildings were considered for demolition to alleviate both the issues of deferred maintenance and crime. At its height of occupancy and development, Cabrini-Green had over 3,600 units and 15,000 residents.” (Public Housing Sites Chapter, A Preservation Chicago 2022 Chicago 7 Most Endangered)
Read the full story at Chicago YIMBY and Preservation Chicago