O Block

Parkway Gardens Apartment Homes, commonly also known as ''(the)'' ''O'Block'', is a gated private apartment complex in the Greater Grand Crossing community area on the border of Woodlawn and Washington Park, on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois. The complex was built from 1950 to 1955; architect Henry K. Holsman, who planned several of Chicago's affordable housing developments, designed the Modernist buildings.

History

Parkway Gardens Apartment Homes, built from 1950 to 1955, was the last of Henry K. Holsman's many housing development designs in Chicago. Holsman began designing low-income housing in Chicago in the 1910s when an urban housing shortage developed after World War I. He worked on several of the Chicago Housing Authority's major housing projects in the 1910s; later in the decade, he began developing his projects with funding from the Federal Housing Authority. From the 1940s onward, Holsman focused on designing residences for Chicago's African-American citizens, such as his Princeton Park community.

While Chicago's African American population boomed from 1920 to 1970 due to the Great Migrations, discriminatory housing policies forced African-Americans to live in the "Black Belt" section of the city's South Side, which did not have enough housing to meet demands. After completing the Winchester-Hood and Lunt-Lake Apartments on the North Side, Holsman began work on the similarly designed Parkway Gardens as a return to the South Side African-American community. The complex replaced the White City Amusement Park, which had operated at the site since 1905. Holsman's firm went bankrupt before the complex opened due to unsound financial decisions, one of which resulted in Holsman's conviction for mail fraud.

The complex was the first cooperatively owned African-American housing development in the United States. While Holsman had worked on cooperative housing in the past, its adoption by African Americans was considered a major success for the community. Mary McLeod Bethune gave an address at the development's cornerstone-laying ceremony, which was attended by Governor Adlai Stevenson II, Chicago Mayor Martin H. Kennelly, and both of the state's U.S. Senators. Advocates for affordable housing and civil rights praised the development when it was completed, citing its modern heating and appliances and its expansive units. The complex attracted African-American residents from lower-income backgrounds, early residents included former First Lady Michelle Obama, as well as rappers Chief Keef, King Von, and Fredo Santana.
Parkway Gardens shifted from cooperative ownership to HUD management in the 1970s and to private ownership in the 1980s. Following the change in ownership, the property deteriorated because of a lack of investment in modernization and maintenance.

The Chicago affiliate of national real estate firm Related Companies and a major affordable housing and mixed-use developer known for its expertise in preservation projects purchased Parkway Gardens in 2011. The company completed a significant renovation of the property in September 2013, preserving a site with historical significance and providing an affordable place for 2,000 people to live. This renovation of Parkway Gardens received the 2014 Chicago Neighborhood Development Award for Outstanding For-Profit Neighborhood Real Estate Project from the Local Initiatives Support Corporation Chicago.

The complex was added to the National Register of Historic Places on November 22, 2011, for its architectural significance and its role in African-American community development.

From the late-2000s to early 2010s, Parkway was the center of gang shootings, mostly amongst teenagers and young adults. Tenants of Parkway and community leaders contested the crime wave came after CHA demolished the drug-infested Randolph Tower, nicknamed the "Calumet Building", which was once located at 6217 S. Calumet Ave. The 16-story red-brick project building was the base of operations for the Black Disciples gang. In a 2004 ''Chicago Tribune'' article it was stated drug dealers in the Randolph Tower were hauling in drug profits as much as $300,000 per day. After the demolition of Randolph Tower in 2006, Black Disciples then shifted their operations to Parkway Gardens which was at the time affordable housing for low-income families and had become Gangster Disciples territory. Even though the area was battling with crime, Parkway however was described as a "safe environment" until gang members from various hi-rise housing projects across the south side moved in during the end of the 2000s.

In the early 2010s, gang activity skyrocketed and Parkway Gardens became the center of one of Chicago's most violent blocks. The 6400 block of South King Drive was known locally as "WIIIC CITY", but began to be referred to as "O'Block" following the 2011 murder of resident and Black Disciples member Odee Perry. Under this new name, it has become nationally notorious due to former Parkway Gardens residents rappers Chief Keef, King Von, Fredo Santana, and Lil Durk, whose music often references Parkway Gardens and its violence.
Between June 2011 and June 2014, Parkway Gardens had the most shootings of any block in Chicago. Many of these shootings occurred in 2011 and 2012, with city police reporting that violence at the complex has since steadily declined. The violence stems mainly from gang rivalries between the Gangster Disciples and Black Disciples, who both control territory near the block.

Architecture

Holsman gave the Parkway Gardens Apartment Homes a Modernist design inspired by European housing projects of the 1920s and 1930s. The complex is low-rise and includes several walk-up buildings, giving it a personal feel at a time when skyscraper housing projects were common. Thirty-five buildings are included in the complex; twenty-four of these are walk-up buildings, while the remaining eleven are eight-story buildings. The development's layout emphasized spaciousness, light, and airflow and pointed entrances toward the inside of the complex rather than the street. Instead of ornamentation, angled bays gave variety to the exteriors, a feature inspired by German "zig-zag houses". The few decorative elements, which include cantilevered balconies and ribbon windows, are typical of Modernist buildings.

In popular culture

Former resident and rapper King Von's first studio album was titled ''Welcome to O'Block,'' and a single which is featured on one of his mixtapes, Levon James, is named " Took Her To The O" which is a reference to the homes.

Notable residents

* King Von, rapper and songwriter
* Chief Keef, rapper and record producer
* Fredo Santana, rapper and songwriter
* Michelle Obama, American attorney, author and first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017

References

{{National Register of Historic Places

Apartment buildings in Chicago
Residential buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago
Modernist architecture in Illinois
African-American history in Chicago