Robert Taylor Homes

Robert Taylor Homes
2005 photograph of the last remaining Robert Taylor Homes (building 22).
Location	Bordered by Pershing Road and 54th Street and Federal Street and State Street. Chicago, Illinois  United States
Coordinates	41°48′49.4″N 87°37′40.18″W / 41.813722°N 87.6278278°W / 41.813722; -87.6278278
Status	Demolished
Constructed	1961–62
Demolished	1998–2007
Governing Body	Chicago Housing Authority
Mr. T, Kirby Puckett, Deval Patrick, Corey Holcomb

Robert Taylor Homes was a public housing project in Bronzeville on the South Side of Chicago, Illinois, on State Street between Pershing Road (39th Street) and 54th Street alongside the Dan Ryan Expressway. It was named for Robert Rochon Taylor, an African-American activist and the first African American chairman of the Chicago Housing Authority (CHA). It was a part of the State Street Corridor which included other CHA housing projects: Stateway Gardens, Harold Ickes Homes, Dearborn Homes and Hillard Homes.

Robert Taylor Homes were completed in 1962 and named for Robert Rochon Taylor, an African American activist and Chicago Housing Authority (CHA) board member who in 1950 resigned when the city council refused to endorse potential building locations throughout the city of Chicago that would induce racially integrated housing. At one time, it was the largest public housing development in the country, and it was intended to offer decent affordable housing. It was composed of 28 high-rise buildings with 16 stories each, with a total of 4,415 units, mostly arranged in U-shaped clusters of three, stretching for two miles (three kilometers).

Robert Taylor Homes faced many of the same problems that doomed other high-rise housing projects in Chicago such as Cabrini–Green. These problems include narcotics, violence, and the perpetuation of poverty. Planned for 11,000 inhabitants, the Robert Taylor Homes housed up to a peak of 27,000 people. Six of the poorest US census areas with populations above 2,500 were found there.