Promontory Point

“Promontory Point was first envisioned as part of Daniel Burnham's seminal 1909 Plan of Chicago which proposed the use of artificial fill to construct a magnificent stretch of new parkland between Grant and Jackson Parks.”

“Architect Emanuel V. Buchsbaum, the CPD's head architect, designed a French Eclectic-style pavilion with a central tower to perch atop the highest point of the site near Lake Michigan.”

“Additionally, increasing crime in the 1960s and 1970s prompted urban park departments throughout the nation, including the CPD, to eliminate shrub masses from public landscapes. However, Promontory Point is one of the nation's only historic landscapes in which a noteworthy original landscape architect returned more than fifty years after the site's creation to oversee its restoration.”

“In 1970, U.S. Congressman Abner Mikva led 500 demonstrators who protested the Vietnam War and demanded the removal of the Nike missile bases. The federal government finally closed Promontory Point's Nike site in 1971.”

“December 2004. دو "National Register of Historic Places, Registration Form: Promontory Point. " United States Department of the Interior, National Park Service. July 31, 2017. "Birds-Eye View of South Shore 'Made Land, Following Mr. Burnham's Plan.” Chicago Tribune, April 5, 1897.”

““The David Wallach Fountain” is incised in the granite beneath the sculpture and simple Art Decostyle foliage carvings accent the circular section and drinking fountains. Landscape Architect Alfred Caldwell Considered a great twentieth-century landscape architect of the Prairie style, Alfred Caldwell (1903-1998) designed and later restored Promontory Point's landscape.”

“Emanuel Valentine Buchsbaum, architect of the Promontory Point pavilion, was a notable Chicago architect. Buchsbaum's career began under architect R. Harold Zook with projects including the Maine East High School and the Pickwick Theatre in Park Ridge, Illinois.”

“Directly below, the original paneled doors with multi-lite transom are still in place at the primary entrance to the structure. Secondary entrances are found at the opposite side of the tower and on the east and west elevations of the comfort station at the north wing.”

“Aspiring to become a landscape architect, Caldwell worked various jobs to afford the tuition for the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign. After a brief period studying in the Landscape Architecture Department, however, he became disillusioned with its bias towards Beaux-Arts Classicism and dropped out.”

“In 1934, when the city's independent park commissions were consolidated into the Chicago Park District, Buchsbaum became the CPD's Architectural Designer. In this position he oversaw a team of staff architects.”