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Jakob Fugger II (1459-1525) is best known for erecting the Fugger Chapel in the Carmelite monastery of St Anna and the Fuggerei in Augsburg. As the chapel was nearing completion, Jakob Fugger II initiated his second major project, the Fuggerei. Located in the St Jakob's district of Augsburg, this was the most ambitious urban social project of the period in Germany. Although the concept may have been inspired by almshouses and retirement homes, the Fuggerei was designed as a charitable community for working families. It was constructed between 1517 and 1523 by Thomas Krebs, Augsburg's master builder, and consisted of 52 terraced houses with their own streets and wells; the chapel of St Markus was built later (1581–82).
The gates were locked at night, so the Fuggerei was, in its own right, very similar to a small independent medieval town. It is still inhabited today, affording it the status of being the oldest social housing project in the world.
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