The Elliott-Chelsea Houses is a combined housing project of the New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA), located between West 25th and 27th Streets and Ninth and Tenth Avenues in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. It consists of two contiguous projects which were originally separate but have been combined for administrative purposes: the John Lovejoy Elliott Houses, named after the founder of the Hudson Guild, has four 11- and 12-story buildings which accommodate over 1400 residents in 589 apartments.[3] The Chelsea Houses has over 1,000 residents in 426 apartments within two 21-story buildings.[4]
History
Prior to development, the Elliott Houses were criticized by the United States Housing Authority who cited the land value being higher than other housing projects. NYCHA broke ground in December 1945 and were completed on July 15, 1947. Designed by William Lescaze, they were one of the first examples of high rise tower in the park style.[3][5] The Chelsea Houses were designed by architect Paul L. Wood[6] and construction started in 1961 and completed on May 31, 1964.[4][7] The Chelsea Houses were aided by the state for $8.3 million.[6] In 2012, NYCHA converted a parking lot in the development into a 168 unit building for low-to-middle-income households.[8]
Development firms Related Companies and Essence Development proposed rebuilding the Elliott-Chelsea Houses and the nearby Fulton Houses in early 2023.[9] In a survey in June 2023, residents of the Elliott-Chelsea Houses and Fulton Houses voted in favor of demolishing the existing towers and constructing a 3,500-unit apartment complex on the same site. At the time, NYCHA officials estimated that the complexes needed about $1 billion in repairs and that it would cost about as much to build new complexes on the site.[10][11] PAU, COOKFOX Architects, and ILA were hired in early 2024 to design the Fulton Elliott-Chelsea Plan, which would involve converting 2,056 NYCHA apartments into mixed-income units.[12] Under the plan, six new towers would be built on the two sites before the existing buildings were demolished.[13] NYCHA's board approved the redevelopment of the Fulton Houses and Elliot-Chelsea Houses in November 2024.[14][15]
^Guerra, Erasmo. "A Precious opportunity for young nuyorican actress"Archived October 22, 2023, at the Wayback Machine, Puerto Rico and the American Dream, November 7, 2009. Accessed February 4, 2022. "Andujar spent the latter part of her childhood in the Chelsea-Elliott Houses, where she endured the hard luck of being the new girl on the block."
^"Whoopi-ing it up for Hudson Guild"Archived February 3, 2022, at the Wayback Machine, AM New York Metro, June 21, 2005. Accessed February 4, 2022. "Whoopi Goldberg received the Hudson Guild’s first Arts in the Community Award and was the guest of honor at the official opening ceremony for the new Hudson Guild Dr. John Lovejoy Elliott Center at 441 W. 26th St. in Chelsea. Goldberg grew up in the nearby Chelsea Elliott Houses and attended the settlement house, where her mother was a teacher, as a youngster."
