Metropolitan Gardens

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Metropolitan Gardens (originally Central City Housing Project) was a 910-unit housing project in the Central City neighborhood in downtown Birmingham. The project was built in 1940 and razed in 2002.

Miller, Martin & Lewis were the architects for the $7.6 million project, ninety percent of which was funded by a 3% loan from the United States Housing Authority. When it first opened, a rental office was established at 2210 6th Avenue North. A central coal-powered plant provided steam heat for the apartments.

The project, which was soon perceived as a "slum", was completely renovated in 1974, the first major commission for the Owens & Woods Partnership. In the mid-1990s, the ZIP code 35203 was one of the poorest zip codes in the nation, partly because Metropolitan Gardens was the only residential district included in the area.

"Metro Gardens" was owned and operated by the Housing Authority of the Birmingham District (HABD). The project was demolished to make way for the privately owned, mixed-income housing Park Place Apartments mixed-income Hope VI project.

University of Missouri-St Louis urban education professor Jerome Morris published a book describing the community and his experiences growing up there in the 1970s and 1980s.

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