02. Lake Meadows, 500 E. 33rd St., Chicago, IL, brochure, c.1953-1954.
In 1946 a group of near and central south side Chicago institutions—including the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), Michael Reese Hospital and Mercy Hospital—joined together to create the South Side Planning Board (SSPB). Formed as a bulwark to promote the survival of these institutions within their rapidly deteriorating neighborhoods, the SSPB—in collaboration with architects and planners such as Pace Associates, Ludwig Hilberseimer, and Walter Gropius—produced a number of proposals for redeveloping a parcel of seven square miles from Cermak Road south to 47th Street and from Michigan Avenue west to the Pennsylvania Railroad. The first project to come to fruition was Lake Meadows (Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, 1950-1960), a series of modern towers set in a park-like green expanse entirely devoid of through-traffic. Lake Meadows was one of the first privately-financed, racially-mixed housing projects in the U.S. True neighborhood integration, however, was more elusive; by 1970 the population of the area was still predominantly (86.5%) African-American.

"Chicago Looks Ahead: 100 Years of Planning, 1909-2009," Case 5, Ryerson & Burnham Libraries, September 29–December 1, 2010
Link to R&B Archives Digital Collections record