The Mecca (Mecca Flats)
PROVISIONAL evidence grade of this record
The Mecca Flats apartment building at 3334-3360 S. State Street (34th & State), Chicago - at its 1891-92 construction the largest apartment building in the United States. All-white until 1911, then a center of Black middle-class life; immortalized in Jimmy Blythe's 'Mecca Flats Blues' (1924) and Gwendolyn Brooks's 'In the Mecca' (1968). Acquired by Illinois Institute of Technology and demolished January 1952 for Mies van der Rohe's S.R. Crown Hall.
The record
- Also known as: Mecca Flats, The Mecca (38th & State) - queue label; location disputed, see CTL-CFL-001813
Notes
RELP62 new entity (2026-10-06). The batch queue labeled it 'The Mecca (38th & State)'; every located source places it at 3334 S. State (34th & State). Address-label conflict recorded as CTL-CFL-001813; documented address adopted.
Relationships
- Bronzeville — located in
The Mecca Flats at 3334 S. State stood in Bronzeville, the Black Metropolis. - Douglas — located in
3334 S. State (34th & State) lies in the Douglas community area.
Sources
- Wikipedia - Mecca Flats
Record CTL-E-2640 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · evidence grade: PROVISIONAL · 1 source · 2 mapped relationships · CTL research: RELP-001.
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Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “The Mecca (Mecca Flats) (CTL-E-2640).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2640/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). The Mecca (Mecca Flats) (CTL-E-2640) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2640/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “The Mecca (Mecca Flats) (CTL-E-2640).” CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-2640/
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