West Pullman School Senior Housing
The West Pullman School met its South Side neighborhood community’s educational needs for over a century. Built in three parts—in 1894, 1900, and 1923—the complex evolved to better serve the neighborhood. One of the 49 schools closed across the city in 2013, its renovation into a 60-unit affordable senior housing will extend its service as a community anchor for the foreseeable future. UrbanWorks has incorporated many of the original building’s distinctive architectural elements into the new design.
The exterior has been preserved, renovated and restored according to standards required by the buildings’ status as a Chicago Landmark. Interiors have similarly been developed to reflect the historic character of the structure—including original building elements that represent the three previous rounds of new construction during the building’s history. For example, subtle yet distinct differences appear between doors, fixtures, and classroom elements, like chalkboards. UrbanWorks has maintained these distinctions in order to reveal the underlying history of the building, and incorporated as many as possible to provide a distinctive character for the new apartments and public spaces.