Island Terrace, on 6430 S. Stony Island Ave, built in 1969, is an important building in the history of affordable housing. The 21-story high-rise made up of 241 one-, two-, and three-bedroom apartments helped address Woodlawn’s affordable housing crisis in the 1960s. Island Terrace was the first affordable housing development to embody Chicago’s Modernist high-rise style pioneered by Mies Van der Rohe. Major architect John Moutoussamy (1922-1995), who studied under van der Rohe at Illinois Institute of Technology, oversaw the Island Terrace project as partner at the Dubin, Dubin, Black and Moutoussamy. Island Terrace is an example of a successful public works project. Moutoussamy’s firm funded their project with low-interest federal mortgage subsidies created by the federal Housing Act of 1968.
John Moutoussamy is best known for the Johnson Publishing Company (the publishers of Ebony and Jet) high-rise on Michigan Avenue. He was (and remains) the only African American architect to design a building in the Loop. Moutoussamy also built (to list only a few) the current Urban League headquarters, Harry S. Truman City College, and Alpha Kappa Alpha International Headquarters. Moutoussamy also built stylish family homes for African American residents of the Chatham neighborhood. The house he built for his family on 361 East Eighty-Ninth Place is a modernist masterpiece.
Island Terrace Now: Island Terrace is home to families that have lived in the building and in Woodlawn for generations. Island Terrace’s special amenities included proximity to Lake Michigan, Jackson Park, and the soon-to-open Obama Presidential Center. POAH’s restoration—major updates to plumbing, electrical systems, ventilation, and structural work, along with refreshed units and an improved first-floor—will ensure Island Terrace remains a safe, comfortable home for the next fifty years.
Island Terrace Renovation 