| September
14, 2006
Greystone Guide To Spur Housing Rehab
The University of
Illinois at Chicago's City Design Center will publish a two-volume
preservation guide for greystone houses and apartment buildings, aimed
at helping revitalize a historic low-income neighborhood. The book will
be available by late September.
"
The Chicago Greystone in Historic North Lawndale" will advance the
Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative?, a program in which UIC is collaborating
with several nonprofit organizations to spur neighborhood reinvestment
by building pride of place.
Roberta Feldman, UIC professor of architecture and co-director of the
City Design Center, edited the book. Chapters were written by UIC architecture
and urban planning faculty and officials of Neighborhood Housing Services
of Chicago, Lawndale Heritage, the Landmarks Preservation Council of
Illinois and the National Trust for Historic Preservation.
The book's first volume explains the economic and cultural benefits of
preservation, defines types of greystone homes, and offers advice on
historic research for rehabbers. It features a history of North Lawndale,
an assessment of its historic places, a geography of Chicago greystones,
and profiles of North Lawndale greystone owners.
"
The guide supports a labor of love by a diverse group of volunteers excited
by the potential of North Lawndale," Feldman said. "The initiative
started with a group of North Lawndale residents who recognized their
community's historical, cultural and architectural assets, focusing on
the greystones as a starting point."
Chapters refer to one-time North Lawndale residents Golda Meir, Benny
Goodman and Dinah Washington; music venues that introduced Chicago blues
stars Willie Dixon and Buddy Guy; and the Ogden Avenue stretch
of Route 66. The chapter on research uses as its model a building chosen
by Martin Luther King, Jr., to draw media attention to unacceptable living
conditions in one of Chicago's poorest neighborhoods.
A second volume, to be published next year, will be a hands-on guide
to restoring greystones in a historically and environmentally sensitive manner.
Feldman and three UIC architecture colleagues are working with two graduate
students to design the renovation of a model greystone that Neighborhood
Housing Services will open next year.
"
It will serve as a case study for the second volume of the guide -- the
how-to part," she said.
The Historic Chicago Greystone Initiative was launched in June in North
Lawndale and will eventually expand to other neighborhoods, Feldman said.
The program's Lawndale beginnings form the basis of an exhibition curated
by David Brown, associate professor of architecture at UIC, which will
open Sept. 20 at the Chicago Architecture Foundation.
"
The Chicago Greystone in Historic North Lawndale" will be available
for purchase at the Chicago Architecture Foundation bookstore and from
Neighborhood Housing Services of Chicago. The Richard H. Driehaus Foundation
partially funded the publication.
UIC ranks among the
nation's top 50 universities in federal research funding and is Chicago's
largest university with 25,000 students, 12,000 faculty and staff,
15 colleges and the state's major public medical center. The UIC College
of Nursing ranks in the top 10 among the nation's nursing colleges,
and consistently ranks in the top five
of federal research funding for nursing colleges and universities.
A hallmark of the UIC campus is the Great Cities Commitment, through
which UIC faculty, students and staff engage with community, corporate,
foundation and government partners in hundreds of programs to improve
the quality of life in metropolitan areas around the world. For more information
about UIC, visit www.uic.edu.
- UIC - |
