Power of Place: Campaign for the National Public Housing Museum

FAIN: CHA-268852-21

National Public Housing Museum (Chicago, IL 60601-2424)
Lisa Yun Lee (Project Director: May 2019 to present)

Renovation of a former public housing building in order to create a museum with event and exhibit spaces, galleries, storage, offices, and three historic apartments.

The National Public Housing Museum requests $750,000 from the National Endowment for the Humanities to contribute to the Museum's capital campaign to assist in construction costs at our permanent home at 1322 West Taylor Street, the last of the Jane Addams Homes. The building, which was saved from demolition, and resourcefully and innovatively reimagined as the Museum was originally designed by lead architect John Holabird and is considered the largest artifact in the Museum’s collection. The Museum draws on the power of place and memory to interpret the history of the building, but also collect and interpret living and material culture, artworks, and oral histories of resilient public housing communities. Within this historic space, compelling firsthand stories of residents will be brought together with thoughtful humanities scholarship from a broad group of interdisciplinary fields to remember, teach, raise critical civic questions, provide spaces for dialogue and to inspire.