| Address | 3015 W. Divison Street, Chicago, IL |
|---|---|
| Built | 1895-96 |
| Architect | Frommann & Jebsen |
| Status | Designated Chicago Landmark |
| Designation Date | February 6, 2008 (Final)City Council Journal of the Proceedings, p. 20627 |
| Neighborhood | West Town |
| Type | Park and landscape |
| Landmark ID | L-255 |
Direct quotes from the Chicago Landmark Designation Report
“The following year, noted Chicago architect William LeBaron Jenney (1832-1907) was elected Architect and Chief Engineer for the District. Influenced by French landscape architecture and the work of Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York's Central Park, Jenney spent the first years of his tenure designing the infrastructure for the now renamed Humboldt Park.”
“As the oldest building surviving in Humboldt Park, the Receptory Building and Stable exemplify the park's early stage of development as a grandly-scaled “pastoral” park in the 19th-century picturesque park tradition.”
“The Humboldt Park Receptory Building and Stable is distinguished by its overall high quality of building materials and craftsmanship, exemplified by its decorative brickwork, half-timbering, rusticated field stone foundation; and its plethora of roofs, dormers and spires in matte and glazed clay tiles.”
“The Humboldt Park Receptory Building and Stable is one of the best designs by the Chicago architectural firm of Frommann & Jebsen and is the last known remaining Chicago park building designed by the firm.”
“Most prominent is the south pavilion which formerly housed Jen's Jensen's office (as Humboldt Park's Superintendent in 1896, he was the building's first occupant after its completion.) It has a porch with curvilinear limestone stair rails with decorative wrought-iron accents and carved limestone window mullions.”
“The roof's spires are also accented with decorative finials and a weather vane; and atop the southeast pavilion is a carved wagon-wheel-and-horse-head motif. The Stable, facing west onto the parking lot, is similar to the Receptory portion of the building in its overall picturesque Central-European visual style, yet less ornate.”
“It is one of the most notable buildings produced by the firm of Frommann & Jebsen during this period of its career. The Receptory Building and Stable measures 127 x 152 feet, configured around a square open courtyard.”
“Built in 1895 to house horses, wagons, and landscaping tools, the Receptory and Stable also served as the office of the Humboldt Park superintendent, who at the time of the building's completion was the noted landscape architect Jens Jensen.”
“The building is exemplified by its picturesque setting in an open green space in Humboldt Park, its asymmetric form, multiple rooflines; and Medieval and Romanesque details made from eclectic building materials and textures.”
“That same year Oscar F. Dubuis (1849-1906), who had been draftsman for the District under Jenney, was appointed Engineer, where he remained until 1893. During Dubuis' tenure, several major building projects were undertaken.”