06. Marshall Field Garden Apartment Homes, 1450 N. Sedgwick St., Chicago, IL, brochure, c.1929.
When completed in 1929, the Marshall Field Garden Apartments were the largest middle-income housing development in the country, with a total of 628 units in ten buildings spread over two city blocks with large interior communal courtyards and street side retail stores. Modeled after the New York City Dunbar Apartments built by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., in 1926, these apartments were one of the nation's earliest attempts at privately financed affordable housing. Andrew J. Thomas, a preeminent designer of housing projects, was the architect. From the brochure: "It is certain there will be in the Marshall Field Garden Apartment Homes a community spirit seldom found in the big city. This will be fostered by the unusual facilities for getting acquainted and for the mutual enjoyment of the many features of interest maintained in the buildings."

"Chicago Looks Ahead: 100 Years of Planning, 1909-2009," Case 3, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries, September 29–December 1, 2010
Link to R&B Archives Digital Collections record