University Apartments

About this property

The University Apartments, also known as the University Park Condominiums, are a pair of ten-story towers in Chicago, Illinois designed by I. M. Pei and Araldo Cossutta. The project was part of a city initiative to revitalize the residential development in Hyde Park just north of the University of Chicago. Within the Hyde Park neighborhood, they are colloquially known as "Monoxide Island" or "the toasters of Hyde Park." Hyde Park Township was the first suburb of Chicago, Illinois and became one of the area's most desirable communities. Following the opening of the University of Chicago in 1892 and the World's Columbian Exposition 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 older buildings that remained in Hyde Park became dilapidated from lack of upkeep. Wealthy and middle class White people 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 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. 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 42.7-acre (17.3 ha) area of Hyde Park between 57th Street, Kimbark Avenue, 54th Place, and the Illinois Central Railroad right-of-way. 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.

Location

Categories

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

More in Cook County

Historic places, battles, and census history across Cook County.

More historic places in Illinois

Browse all historic places in Illinois.

Conflict records

Explore 19,000+ military engagements across American history.

Illinois history

Colonial settlement, territorial period, and statehood narrative.