Dearborn Park was a gamble on the future of downtown Chicago.
Initially proposed in the Chicago 21 plan released in 1973 and anchored by the distinctive 1885 Dearborn Station that sits at the foot of Dearborn Street at Polk Street, the development took advantage of the abandoned railyards south of the old train station.
The land was mostly vacant — virtually a blank slate between State and Clark streets stretching from Polk to 15th Street. To the west was mostly more vacant land stretching to the river. To the east was a neighborhood of mostly well-wrought urban structures that had seen more prosperous times.
The master plan was prepared by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) whose planners chose to import a somewhat suburban model for this prime piece of cityscape immediately adjacent to the Loop. This unfortunate flavor of 20th century urban planning created what is essentially a gated community in the South Loop.
The initial elements went under construction in 1977, with the first residents moving in 1979 and Phase I mostly complete by 1985. For several decades, the neighborhood was a bright spot of development in the area.
The first phase spans from Polk at the north to Roosevelt Road at the south.
The second phase, dubbed Dearborn Park II, is south of Roosevelt Road and was completed in stages starting in 1989. A pedestrian path links the two phases under the elevated portion of Roosevelt Road that bisects the neighborhood with its imposing viaduct.
The primary pedestrian entrances are on Polk and follow the alignments of Plymouth Court and Federal Street to the north. The sole automobile entrance to the first phase is at 9th and State. The north-south rights of way for both Plymouth and Federal streets are maintained throughout much of the development, but the east-west streets that have generally been abandoned and terminated with imposing masonry walls along Clark and State streets. The townhomes were designed by Hammond, Beeby and Babka and Booth, Nagle & Hartray. The mid-rises are by SOM and Booth, Nagle & Hartray, and the high-rises are the work of Ezra Gordon-Jack M. Levin & Associates.
Phase II eschews the mid-rises and high-rises, but feels denser as its townhouses are mostly taller and closer to the sidewalks than within the earlier section. The single automobile entrance is reprised here at 14th Street. There are single-family residences as well. The tallest structures max out at four stories along the western edge of the development. The buildings were designed with varying degrees of architectural success by Pappageorge Haymes, FitzGerald Associates and Booth Hansen.
Despite its embrace of lower density and suburban features such as cul-de-sacs, Dearborn Park is not without some moments of urbanity. The mid-rises along State Street between Polk and Roosevelt are a bright spot that feels like it’s part of the city, although the building entrances face inward. The best thing about Dearborn Park, particularly the original portion, is the mature landscape that creates a not unappealing leafy enclave.
Ironically, the one spot where Dearborn Park genuinely engages the cityscape is along the west side of State south of Roosevelt where a row of single-family homes follows Chicago’s typical development pattern. But alas, these are among the most out-of-place houses in the entire city. They appear more appropriately designed for a waterfront development in southwest Michigan than this prime South Loop locale.
The architecture throughout Dearborn Park is very much a product of its time — a form of minimalist masonry late modern for Phase I and more decorative postmodern for Phase II. Brick was prescribed for all structures in the first phase — white for the townhomes and red for the mid- and high-rises.
Dearborn Park’s initial plan in the 1970s created a protective wall around itself in order to make it economically viable. To their credit, the city planners, developers and architects were looking to revitalize a portion of Chicago’s center during a period when much architectural energy was devoted to sites on the periphery of American cities. But the planner’s biggest flaw was not designing for the eventual reintegration of the site into Chicago’s overall framework — our ubiquitous street grid.
To the east, the South Loop is now a dense and thriving neighborhood. The same is true to the west and north of Roosevelt Road. South of Roosevelt, the initial portions of The 78 are now under construction, and early planning is underway for the land west of the river anchored by a new Sox Park.
And Dearborn Park now sits as an island in the midst of these new developments. It’s time to open Dearborn Park to its surrounding neighborhoods.
Walls are simple things. They can clarify and define, but they can complicate as well. At Dearborn Park, they have stood guard over a community that needed insulation from desolate railyards and an economically depressed South Michigan Avenue district in the latter decades of the 20th century. These walls helped create community within their perimeter, but today, this community is just a place apart.
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It’s time to tear down Dearborn Park’s walls.
It won’t be possible to open every street; the planners built substantial structures across the alignments of many east-west streets, presumably to foreclose the possibility of eventually reintegrating the tract into the pattern of the city. Clark Street has become a relatively high-speed street between Polk and 16th Street. The traffic along its length will need traffic calming measures, and the ramps between it and Roosevelt Road will need revisions.
But as the rest of the South Loop evolves, it’s time to break down the barriers that make Dearborn Park an island.
Edward Keegan writes, broadcasts and teaches on architectural subjects. Keegan’s biweekly architecture column is supported by a grant from former Tribune critic Blair Kamin, as administered by the not-for-profit Journalism Funding Partners. The Tribune maintains editorial control over assignments and content.
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