Photo Tom Vlodek

The Chicago Workers Cottage Initiative

The Chicago Workers Cottage is a registered Illinois 501(c)3 organization. The Initiative celebrates this housing style, seeking to preserve their unique features, protect them from demolition, and continue their use and reuse for the next century.

There are currently as many as 60,000 workers cottages in Chicago. Most were built during Chicago's dramatic expansion of population and area from the 1880s to 1910s. These modest houses were built for working class families and represent the origins of the "American Dream" of homeownership and the investment and pride of Chicago's new immigrants.

In many of Chicago's neighborhoods undergoing redevelopment, these homes are increasingly targeted for demolition. Preserving workers cottages will retain the continuity of neighborhood history, scale, and character as well as stabilize affordable housing where housing costs are increasing.

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CWCI in the Media

Workers Cottage Demolitions In Logan Square Spur Renewed Fight For Preservation - Leigh Giangreco, Block Club - Oct 17, 2024

Hardworking Cottage - Nick Merlock Jackson & Matt Bergstrom, Southside Weekly - August 16, 2024

Chicago Workers Cottages Gave Immigrants Access to Homeownership - Zach Mortice, Bloomburg Citylab - July 28, 2024

A Paradise of Small Houses - Max Podemski - Beacon Press, March 2024

Workers cottages helped spread Chicago's suburban model to the nation - Paul Eisenberg, Chicago Tribune Daily Southtown - March 11, 2024

Logan Square's Vanishing Workers Cottages Will Be Highlighted At A Walking Tour Next Month - Mina Bloom, Block Club - Sept 30, 2022

Cataloging and Celebrating the Workers Cottage, One of Chicago's Original Affordable Homes - WTTW - May 12, 2022

I want to save a historic Chicago home. I'm up against developers who would rather raze it - Betsy Mikel, Chicago Sun-Times - June 10, 2021

Group Aims to Save Chicago's Worker's Cottages, Starting in Logan Square - Tim Frisbie, Logan Squarist - May 27, 2021

With Workers Cottages Vanishing In Logan Square And Other Neighborhoods, Preservationists Roll Out Plan To Save Them - Mina Bloom, Block Club - April 15, 2021