Pacesetter Gardens Historic District

Pacesetter Gardens is a group of twelve flat-roofed, light-red brick town house buildings along South Lowe Avenue in Riverdale, Illinois, about fifteen miles south of downtown Chicago. Architect and developer Harry J. Quinn designed and built them in 1960. Together they hold ninety two-story units, each roughly twenty feet wide, with recessed entry alcoves, continuous horizontal stone courses, white aluminum cornices and box bays on the upper floors. Interiors were compact and economical, about 1,200 square feet with three bedrooms. The district matters because Riverdale had been dominated by detached single-family houses with pitched roofs. Quinn's town houses lowered costs by sharing walls and trimming interior space, which opened homeownership to families of more modest means. A national building journal featured the project in 1961 as part of an emerging town house trend. The buildings keep their original character and setting, and they are recognized for their social history, community planning and architecture.