Lathrop Homes Historic Building Rehabilitation
- Preservation Architecture
- Residential
- Assessments
- Building Envelope
The revitalized Lathrop Homes is once again a bustling, diverse, and sustainable community on Chicago’s rapidly evolving riverfront, including 414 mixed-income residences and rehabilitation of 16 of the original 32 buildings. The development is home to two- and three-story residences, accommodating a range of mixed income levels. The property’s historic Great Lawn, which fronts the Chicago River, provides a green space for both the residents and the surrounding community to enjoy. McGuire Igleski was the consulting architect for the exterior envelope rehabilitation and restoration of the 16 original buildings. Careful effort in the design to meet the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation was undertaken to clean the masonry, replace windows, doors, and lintels, and install new roofs.
Photos: Harley Ellis Devereaux
Chicago, Illinois
Related Midwest
17 acres, 16 buildings
Harley Ellis Devereaux (HED)
AIA Chicago Design Excellence Award
ENR Midwest’s Best Projects: Best Project, Residential/Hospitality
Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Award for Rehabilitation
Chicago Neighborhood Development Award: Richard H Driehaus Award for Design Excellence in Community Development
Opened in 1938, the Julia C. Lathrop Homes, a Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) public housing project, was completed by the Public Works Administration as one of the first Chicago public housing projects. The development consisted of two-story brick row houses and three- and four-story apartment buildings (925 units) separated by landscaped courtyards and linked by small archways in a campus-like arrangement, spanning 35.5 acres. It is one of the most significant, thoroughly executed, and best-preserved examples of America’s first phase of public housing and American urban and community planning in the interwar period. The complex was named for Julia Lathrop (1858-1932), a Hull House resident and social reformer, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.