University Apartments (Chicago, Illinois)

University Apartments
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
University Apartments in 2011
Location	1401 and 1451 E. 55th St.; 1401 and 1450 E. 55th Place, Chicago, Illinois
Area	16.2 acres (6.6 ha)
Built	1961 (1961)
Architect	Araldo Cossutta and I. M. Pei of I. M. Pei & Partners Loewenberg & Loewenberg
Architectural style	International Style
NRHP Reference #	04001301
Added to NRHP	December 22, 2005

The University Apartments, also known as the University Park Condominiums, are a pair of ten-story towers in Chicago, Illinois designed by I. M. Pei and Araldo Cossutta. The project was part of a city initiative to revitalize residential development in Hyde Park just north of the University of Chicago. Within the Hyde Park neighborhood, they are colloquially known as "The Toasters".

Hyde Park Township was the first suburb of Chicago, Illinois and became one of the area's most desirable communities. Following the opening of the University of Chicago in 1892 and the World's Columbian Exposition in 1893, the neighborhood became known as a retreat for the wealthy intellectual community. Hyde Park, which was annexed in 1889, maintained this reputation until the 1920s. The area around 55th Street and Lake Park Avenue, near where the University Apartments stand today, became a haven for taverns and gambling houses, who were banned from operating near the former fairgrounds. Furthermore, the South Side of Chicago experienced an overall decline in residential construction in the 1920s that continued through the Great Depression. The older buildings that remained in Hyde Park became dilapidated from poor upkeep. Wealthy and middle class communities fled the area as it became blighted and increasingly African-American.

By the early 1950s, the Hyde Park community had become so poor and neglected that the University of Chicago allegedly began to make plans to move their campus. Thomas Wright, the Head of the Chicago Commission on Human Relations, and the Social Order Committee of the 57th Street Meeting of Friends met to discuss ways to reverse the changes. Although the university at first refused to engage in any community-building activities, the promotion of chancellor Lawrence A. Kimpton prompted a change in philosophy. The three groups decided to form the South East Chicago Commission in 1952 with the goals of increasing police protection, promoting residential stability, and enforce building codes. They also sought to commission a plan for the redevelopment of Hyde Park's worst neighborhoods. The organization was able to convince state and federal legislators to provide funding for urban renewal projects.