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By  Brent Hoffmann, Class of 2005

“In college I took Vincent Scully’s introduction to western European art history,” said Steve.  “Several of his lectures focused on architecture and planning.  They were remarkable and brought architecture to life.  Scully’s passion and storytelling was a spark that stuck with me. In my junior year abroad, I finally spent time in a big city, and it was Paris that helped cement my interest in how cities work.”

Steve’s interest in big cities and their problems stuck with him after he graduated from Yale with a BA in French literature.  He went on to earn a master’s degree in public policy analysis from Claremont Graduate Schools in Claremont, California.

He followed up with a degree at the Coro Fellows Program in Public Affairs in Los Angeles.  “Basically, the Coro program educates leaders to understand how decisions are made,” explained Steve. “And how policies are shaped and how to influence meaningful change – all using the city as a classroom.

The Chicago Connection

“I had a 35-year career as an advocate for public education, running programs that helped low income and homeless people to find jobs and affordable housing, and doing leadership training.”

After working in New York City for Coro National, Steve moved to Chicago in 1990 to open the local affiliate of STRIVE (Support and Training Results in Valuable Employees).  STRIVE is an international network of job training programs for chronically unemployed, low-income youth and adults.  He was the organization’s executive director for 13 years, until he became chief program officer of the Inspiration Corporation, headquartered in Uptown, where he oversaw employment training and supportive housing programs.  During various phases of his Chicago career, he worked in Bronzeville, Humboldt Park, Rogers Park, East  Garfield Park, and Uptown.

He also served as president of the Chicago Jobs Council, chairman of the Illinois Job Corps Business and Industry Council, and chairman of the United Way of Chicago’s Human Capital Development Needs Assessment Committee. In addition, Steve was a member of the advisory board of Loyola University’s Center for Urban Research and Learning, the Governor’s Commission on the Status of Women, and the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago’s Advisory Council on Agriculture, Labor, and Small Business.

A year after retiring in 2018, Steve became a docent.  In addition to leading tours in the Loop area – Historic Treasures of Chicago’s Golden Age and Elevated Architecture – he’s on the docent Tour Committee, co-chairman of the Library Committee, and a facilitator for the book club.  “I stay connected to neighborhoods, too, with tours of Pilsen and the Sheffield Historic District,” he said.

New on the Red Line

In a recent CAC Live virtual presentation, Old and New Design Along the Red Line, Steve shared details about neighborhoods and architecture near the Red Line south to 95^th Street.  “It was a way to combine my experience in working in Chicago neighborhoods with my interest in the built environment,” he explained.  “And regarding architecture, I thought docents would be particularly interested in the following three new projects.

“West of the 69^th Street station is the Englewood Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math High School, or ‘STEM’ for short.  It was opened in 2019.  The glassy, modernist building includes a medical center that’s used by community residents as well as students.  The designer was Moody Nolan, the country’s largest African-American owned architecture firm.  And I can’t think of a more tangible sign that we’ve made progress from the era when African-Americans were prohibited from living in the Englewood neighborhood.

“Further south is the Lavezzorio Community Center, near the 79^th Street station,” he continued.  “It was designed by Studio Gang in 2008, and was built on a very tight budget, using donated materials.  And it’s a great example of what new investments can do for communities.  The ground floor is clad with conventional dark-brown brick. On the upper floor, a big wall of windows provides an open interior space, punctuated with two ‘V’ supports for the roof.  Along the side are irregular, shaded bands of concrete. At the front, it looks a little like a rock formation, as if the community center had been carved into a sheltering cliff.”

Steve continued, “One of the newest features on the south side is the redone 95th Street ‘L’ station.  The $280 million rebuild and expansion was designed by EXP and completed in 2019.  In addition to being the southern terminus of the Red Line, the station is a hub for 17 bus lines.  It has two art installations created by Chicago artist Theaster Gates.  One of them can be seen at the top of the stairs in the overpass.  It’s called ‘america, america’ and is made of retired fire hoses.  The second art piece is a disk jockey booth that Gates calls ‘An Extended Song of Our People,’ or AESOP for short.  A disk jockey plays music on Monday mornings, as people go to work, and during Friday evenings as they return home.”

“Like most docents when leading tours,” he concluded, “I to like incorporate the history of Chicago and the neighborhoods with the history of changes in architecture embodied in the buildings and sites.  So, I really look forward to seeing what the new wave of investments will bring to the South Side.”

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