Landmarks Illinois 2021 Most Endangered Historic Places in Illinois
ALTGELD GARDENS
SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) & SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
Chicago
“This area is a gem of the community. It is a staple of the community. It is part of
the history of this community. It is important to the community to have this
commercial strip because it gives residents the opportunity to open businesses.”
CHERYL JOHNSON
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, PEOPLE FOR COMMUNITY RECOVERY
Shop Building. Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
2
LOCATION
Shop Building: 13122 S. Ellis Ave.
School Building C: 839 E. 132
nd
St.
Carver School (School Building E): 801 E. 133rd Pl.
Chicago, IL, 60827, Cook County
YEAR BUILT
Shop Building: 1945
School Building C: 1944
Carver School (School Building E): 1950
ARCHITECT
Shop Building: Keck and Keck
School buildings: John C. Christensen
CURRENT OWNER
Shop Building: Privately owned commercial building
School Building C & Carver School (School Building E):
Chicago Public Schools (CPS)
WHY IT’S ENDANGERED
While Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) continues to make long overdue improvements at Altgeld
Gardens, the community’s privately-owned Shop Building and two vacant historic CPS schools are highly
visible and are a reminder of the critical investment still needed. Decades of neglect and deterioration at
Altgeld Gardens previously resulted in CHA leading the demolition of several blocks in the nationally
recognized housing development on Chicago’s South Side. The Shop Building (known by Altgeld residents
as the “Up-Top”) currently faces a demolition threat and the private owner and City of Chicago are in
demolition court. The two school buildings are vacant, need attention and in various stages of
deterioration.
Shop Building: The City of Chicago is in demolition court with the private owner of the Shop Building/ the
“Up-Top,” and the fate of the structure is uncertain. All but one of its retail spaces are currently vacant.
The building is in need of substantial rehabilitation and its important community-made Memorial Wall
needs protection.
With the recent completion of the adjacent KOO-designed
Altgeld Family Resource Center and Chicago
Public Library branch, which draws inspiration from Keck & Keck’s curvilinear roof design, and the
potential for a new nearby CTA Red Line rail station, now is the ideal time for new investment in the highly
significant Shop Building. Residents anxiously await the rehabilitation of the structure, which could
Carver School. Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
3
provide a home for a high-quality food store. A 2020 survey by grassroots environmental justice
organization People for Community Recovery
(PCR) reiterated the need for Altgeld residents to have
access to quality food.
School Building C & Carver School (School Building E): CPS has not stated its intentions for the two
vacant school buildings. School Building C is in severe deterioration after decades of neglect. Carver
School Building E is in stable condition but it has remained unused for five years. The community would
like to see School Buildings C and E rehabilitated and reused for jobs and vocational training opportunities
for Altgeld residents. PCR’s 2020 summer survey of residents emphasized that with a local grocery story,
the essential community need is for child programs and jobs training. (Source “
Build a Solar Farm in
Altgeld: It’s time for CHA to Follow Through,” Cheryl Johnson, Sept. 2, 2020, South Side Weekly).
HISTORIC SIGNIFICANCE & BACKGROUND
CHA’s Altgeld Gardens
community was built during World War II to house the families of African American
war workers and has been home to hundreds of families for the past nearly 80 years. Altgeld Gardens was
first deemed eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places in 1994 by the Illinois State
School Building C. Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
4
Historic Preservation Office (IL SHPO) due to its role in the history of community planning and
development in public housing and for its distinctive architecture.
In 2015, IL SHPO also determined the Shop Building as individually eligible for listing in the National
Register for its Midcentury Modern Style architecture, its association with the Altgeld Gardens housing
complex and the cultural significance of its breezeway Memorial Wall created by Altgeld residents. Per a
memorandum of agreement between CHA and the IL SHPO, a National Register of Historic Places historic
district nomination is underway to give national recognition to Altgeld Gardens. This will provide the
opportunity for private investment in the Shop Building using federal and state historic tax credits, a
substantial economic incentive for rehabilitation.
Shop Building: CHA originally envisioned a privately owned and operated commercial retail building for
Altgeld Gardens’ town center. That vision was fulfilled by prominent Chicago architects Keck & Keck. They
designed the streamlined Midcentury Modern Shop Building, completed in 1945 and distinguished by a
dramatically sweeping, curvilinear and overhanging roof. The crescent-shaped Shop Building originally
housed essential shops and services and, most importantly, a grocery store, but is now mostly vacant.
Bernadette Williams (left) and Cheryl Johnson in front of the Shop Building/ the “Up-Top.” Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
5
According to Bernadette Williams, president of the tenants’ Local Advisory Council, locals refer to this
town center as “Up-Top” and despite being mostly vacant, the Shop Building remains a focal point for
residents. Although located within the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA)-owned complex, Altgeld
Gardens’ Shop Building remains privately-owned and is currently in demolition court. The building’s central
location in Altgeld Gardens makes it highly accessible to the community and its deterioration highly visible.
The Shop Building’s rehabilitation and its potential to provide essential retail, especially a fresh food
grocer, is critical for Altgeld residents’ quality of life.
The commercial Shop Building also features a breezeway with a painted Memorial Wall created by
residents in the early 1970s displaying names of Altgeld residents who have passed away due to pollution-
related illnesses and violence. The environmental justice movement at Altgeld Gardens has its organized
beginnings in 1979 with the founding of People for Community Recovery
(PCR) by Hazel Johnson, who
lived at Altgeld Gardens for 50 years. Johnson experienced firsthand the mental and physical toll of
Altgeld residents living within the Lake Calumet and Little Calumet River industrial area of contaminated
abandoned factories, landfills and a major sewage treatment plant. Johnson’s PCR advocated for the
closure and cleanup of facilities polluting Altgeld Gardens, as well as for the removal of asbestos and lead
from residential buildings and for making corporate and government polluters accountable for the unjust
polluting of minority communities.
Memorial Wall. Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
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Environmental justice activism at Altgeld remains strong, and PCR’s work today is continued by her
daughter Cheryl Johnson. One of PCR’s first offices was located in Altgeld’s Shop Building. In addition to
rehabilitation of the Shop Building to bring in needed service-oriented retail, preservation of the Memorial
Wall is extremely important as a remembrance of Altgeld family and friends whose lives have been lost.
School Building C: The CPS-owned building was
constructed in 1944 as one of four original school buildings
designed by John C. Christensen, long-time head architect
of the Chicago Board of Education. The building was part
of a complete educational campus planned by the site’s
original architects centered on a park at the center of
Altgeld Gardens. The building served as Altgeld’s high
school until 1950 when the Christensen-designed Carver
High School was built to relieve overcrowding. School
Buildings A through D were T-shaped masonry buildings
with classical ornament and entrances at their narrow
ends. Vacant for over 30 years and extremely deteriorated,
the architecturally impressive School Building C is boarded
up but is open to the elements and in deteriorating
condition.
Carver School (School Building E): The building, which is
designed by architect John C. Christensen and owned by
CPS, was built in 1950 to replace the site’s first high school,
School Building C. It was designed in a restrained Moderne
Style and was the community high school until a third high
school opened in 1971. The original 1950 school was then
used as a public middle school until becoming Chicago
International Charter School - Larry Hawkins High School.
CPS closed CICS-Larry Hawkins in 2016, and the building
has sat vacant since.
HOW YOU CAN HELP
Help us spread the word on this vacant property! Outside investment is needed for the future of these
important community buildings. A National Register district nomination underway could provide Federal
historic tax credits to potential developers.
Reach out to Alderman Anthony Beale, regarding interest in investment opportunities at Altgeld.
See how you can support local efforts at Altgeld by contacting:
• Bernadette Williams, President, Local Advisory Council: bwilliams@lac.thecha.org 312-371-6065.
• Cheryl Johnson, Executive Director, People for Community Recovery: cheryl@pcrchi.org 773-971-
5028
School Building C. Credit: Sean Reilly
2021 MOST ENDANGERED HISTORIC PLACES IN ILLINOIS
ALTGELD GARDENS: SHOP BUILDING (“Up-Top”) &
SCHOOL BUILDINGS C & E
7
FURTHER READING
• Hazel Johnson, the mother of environmental justice, was Catholic
EarthBeat, February 26, 2021
• Op-Ed: Build a Solar Farm in Altgeld
South Side Weekly, September 2, 2020
• Life in the Doughnut
South Side Weekly, April 16, 2019
• Forgotten Chicago tour: Early Obama tour – Altgeld Gardens townhomes
August 26, 2017
• Lost in the Shuffle
South Side Weekly, January 8, 2014
