Masonry Magazine July 1962 Page. 11
MILES
OF
MASONRY
MASONRY brings you a follow-up story of the Robert R. Taylor Homes on Chicago's South Side. The 17½ million bricks and blocks used in the project were placed by V. S. Wallgren Company, MCAA member. (See the April MASONRY.)
Herson, president of the V. S. Wallgren Company, MCAA member, personally supervised the placing of the 17½ million bricks and blocks of the Robert R. Taylor project.
Wallgren's Elmar Wirman was project manager for the miles of masonry project, the largest masonry contract ever let in Chicago.
MASONRY July, 1962. Stand on Chicago's South Side at 54th Street and you'll see the Windy City has another skyline attraction in beauty and design. Like stately oaks, the apartment buildings of the Chicago Housing Authority give you a feeling of permanence and power. On overcast days clouds seem to swirl 'round the towering high-rise apartments, 16 of them. Like a new-birth, a pervasive aura of reverential awe permeates the air.
And masonry helped make this possible, masonry by the V. S. Wallgren Co., Inc., of Chicago. Miles on miles of brick and block were used-17½ million of them, each one placed by the skilled hands of some 450 bricklayers.
Called the Robert R. Taylor Homes, the project is 1¼ blocks wide and runs two miles in length. It covers 95 acres with a total of 31 buildings, and houses 27,000 persons.
Highlights in architecture have been created through repetition of a simple building design. Buildings face different directions, with varying colors of pale red and gray brick creating distinct block areas attractively separated by color.
Used to move the 17½ million bricks and blocks outside the buildings were Kwik-Mix Hi-Lifters (such as the one pictured above). The lifter places block on the fourth floor for V. S. Wallgren masons.