Ida B. Wells Homes
The Ida B. Wells Homes Housing Project was built in 1941 as a PWA (Public Works Administration) project. It included a city park and was a segregated development for African Americans. In 1961 the Clarence Darrow Home Project was built adjacent to the site, and it was demolished in 2000. In 1970 the Madden Park Homes Project, the last of the large CHA public housing projects, was built on another side of the Ida B. Wells Homes. Today, Ida B. Wells is mostly vacant and awaiting demolition.
Ida B. Wells Homes consists of 2 and 3-story brick apartment buildings which are not necessarily bad in and of themselves. However, they were arranged in a configuration that created numerous hidden spaces and pockets between buildings where drug dealing and violence could occur. The site features vast internal spaces which are hidden from view and isolated from the city streets.
The Madden-Wells-Darrow site is being redeveloped as a mixed-income community called Oakwood Shores. This will consist of traditional Chicago walk-up flats, apartment houses, and row houses, and will be integrated with the city street grid.
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| Approaching the Ida B. Wells Homes | |
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| Typical entrance with canopy. Unit on the left is sealed with Vacant Property Services metal grates | |
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| Typical internal sidewalk | |
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| Another internal sidewalk, note the many corners and hidden spaces | |
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| Entrance to a building that is still occupied | View in the new Oakwood Shores development |
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Madden-Wells-Darrow official web site [Link]
Link to a page about "Ghetto Life 101," recorded by two teenagers in Ida B. Wells in 1993 [Link]