Dearborn Homes
| Dearborn Homes | |
|---|---|
 2009 photograph of two Dearborn Homes buildings shortly after renovation. | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Location | Bordered by 27th Street, 30th Street, State Street, and Federal Street Chicago, Illinois,  United States |
| Coordinates | 41°50′35″N 87°37′40″W / 41.8431°N 87.6278°W |
| Status | 660 units; Renovated |
| Construction | |
| Constructed | 1949–50 |
| Other information | |
| Governing body | Chicago Housing Authority |
Dearborn Homes is a
The project occupies 16 acres (6.5 ha) and consists of mid-rise, six-story, and nine-story buildings.[1] They were designed in modernist style by Loebl, Schlossman & Bennett, with cruciform towers to allow for ventilation and light, placed in a parklike setting.[2][3][4] There were 800 units.[2][5]
History
Dearborn was the first Chicago housing project built after World War II, as housing for blacks on part of the Federal Street slum within the "black belt".[3] It was the start of the Chicago Housing Authority's post-war use of high-rise buildings to accommodate more units at a lower overall cost,[6] and when it opened in 1950, the first to have elevators.[1][2]
While still unfinished, it was used to receive lower-income residents displaced by redevelopment;[7] half the buildings were also increased in height by three floors when more money became available during construction.[8] The buildings soon fell victim to vandalism; in 1958 a Chicago American reporter visited Dearborn and wrote of "torn window screens, mutilated storm doors, yards littered with garbage, . . . walls, doors, and casings marked by knife slashes and crayon marks; holes gouged in plaster; [and] obscenities scrawled on the stairway walls".[9]
Crime and drugs
By 1980, the project was "notorious", a high-crime area where "[e]verybody live[d] in fear".[10] The Mickey Cobras gang dominated the complex during the 2000s.[5][11] In 2006, following an undercover drug conspiracy bust, numerous people living at and near the housing project died of overdoses from a potent form of heroin.[12] Raids followed the deaths and resulted in 30 gang members' being arrested at the complex.[13] On August 11, 2013, two men were shot in the complex, leaving one dead and the other wounded.[14]
Renovation
From 2009–2010, The Chicago Housing Authority renovated the buildings, adding detailing—stone
References
- ^ a b Dearborn Homes Archived 2012-01-30 at the Wayback Machine, Chicago Housing Authority
- ^ ISBN 9780226423135, pp. 244–47.
- ^ ISBN 9780226360850, p. 123.
- ^ Progressive Architecture 52 (1981) 57.
- ^ a b Donna Leinwand, "Raids target gang ring behind deadly heroin," USA Today, June 22, 2006.
- ^ Hunt, pp. 123–24
- ISBN 9780226342467, p. 123.
- ^ Hunt, p. 124.
- ^ qtd. in Hunt, p. 156.
- ^ "Down but not out: despite illness, money woes, Chicago family manages to make ends meet," Ebony, August 1980, pp. 46+, pp. 47, 48.
- ^ Frank Main, "Residents of Dearborn Homes protest surge of gang violence", Chicago Sun-Times, August 14, 2001.
- ^ "Overdoses spur heroin investigation", Chicago Tribune, February 6, 2006.
- ^ Donna Leinwand, "Raids target gang ring behind deadly heroin", USA Today, June 22, 2006.
- ^ "2 killed, 14 hurt in shootings across Chicago", Chicago Tribune, August 11, 2013.
- ^ Natalie Moore, Associated Press, "CHA opens first tech center in public housing," Archived 2012-05-13 at the Wayback Machine WBEZ, March 7, 2012.
Further reading
- History of Dearborn Homes. Chicago: Peoples Welfare Organization of Chicago, 1950. OCLC 45831602