Historic Chicago
Greystone Initiative
Fall 2004 - Spring 2005
The Chicago Historic Greystone Initiative grew out of a comprehensive
planning effort in North Lawndale coordinated by the Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago. The civic committee identified
a set of strategic recommendations
for linking North Lawndale's rich architectural and cultural assets to broader goals of community revitalization.
Inspired partly by the highly successful
Historic Chicago Bungalow Initiative, the program seeks to preserve
what remains of this valuable housing stock, which once covered block after block of North Lawndale. The program would also promote the greystone as a means to further cultivate
Lawndale's image as a community
with a unique historic and cultural legacy. These greystones, buildings with a limestone front primarily built between 1895 and 1920 in a wide band around the Loop, constitute over 1/3 of the housing stock in North Lawndale.
The City Design Center has been conducting significant research on North Lawndale's housing stock and, in particular, the history and typology
of Greystones. This research has helped determine the scope and parameters of the strategic planning phase, including defining greystones, estimating the number of greystones, assessing rehabilitation needs, and understanding characteristics of greystone occupants. The center also provided technical assistance to Lawndale Heritage, a new community organization devoted to preserving and marketing the significant cultural, architectural, and social history of North Lawndale.
|
4100 block of W. 21st Street
2102 South Avers. Built 1892.
1626 South Central Park. Built 1906.
|
City Design Center Affiliated Faculty
Brent Ryan, Assistant Professor, Urban Planning and Policy Program, and Co-Director, City Design Center
Robert Bruegmann, Professor, Art History, Architecture, Urban Planning, and Chairperson, Art History
Collaborating Organization
Lawndale Heritage Board
Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago
Civic Committee of the Commercial Club of Chicago
Funding
The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
|
