The Garden Homes Historic District was the nation's first municipally-sponsored, community-owned housing project and a notable example of early 20th century city planning. After WWI the Milwaukee housing commission proposed a municipally-sponsored, low-cost, cooperative housing project to ease the local housing shortage and improve the quality of city life. The plan offered working-class tenants an opportunity to purchase equity in the project through a cooperative ownership plan. The intention of the Garden Homes board of directors was to select families and individuals that were most in need of housing.

William H. Schuchardt donated his professional services for design and construction of the project. His designs were influenced by his 1911 visit to garden cities in England and Germany. The "garden city" was a major experiment in cooperatively-owned, working-class housing set in a carefully planned environment. The main objective of the Garden Homes project was to promote economic growth with low-cost, healthy and attractive conditions. The project set aside land for playgrounds, recreation and community gardens.

Garden Homes incorporated the fundamental principles of England's Garden City, including production-line construction techniques and labor saving materials. The fan-like subdivision has the character of a small village with two-story, stuccoed cottages in a simplified Colonial Revival style. The major architectural feature used to differentiate the boxy stucco houses is a one-story covered entry porch. The houses were built according to nine basic designs that varied by reversing floor plans and an addition of front-gabled to side-gabled models. Garden Homes was the only large-scale public development of detached single family and duplex homes ever built under a cooperative ownership plan in America.

The homes in this district are private residences. Please respect the privacy of the owners.