The great West Side Parks (Chicago, Oak Park: houses, neighborhoods, public school)

[conovercourt]

I am interested the three great West Side parks Garfield, Columbus and Humboldt. I love urban parks, and would love to explore these next time I'm in Chicago. I am a middle aged guy who appreciates landscape architecture, and I would be alone, or with my teen age daughter.

Any extra precautions we should take? (We're experienced urban tourists.)

Thank you.

[Drover]

Nothing beyond the standard urban cautions. All three of these parks are in areas that are at least questionable, but you shouldn't have any problems during daylight hours. Just stay aware of your surroundings, and unless you're familiar with the area, don't do too much exploring of the neighborhoods around them.

[oakparkdude]

The Garfield Park Conservatory, technically not in Garfield Park but right across the street is a wonderful, underappreciated gem well worth visiting as well.

[paytonc]

I've felt spooked (single, non-Black guy on a bicycle) in Columbus Park and in parts of Garfield Park off the beaten path. However, you'll be fine as long as you don't linger too long, keep your wits about you, and go earlier in the day. If you see something suspicious, just move on, and acknowledge everyone you pass. Sadly, most of the wide open vistas that Jensen envisioned have been filled in with ballfields, golf courses, and the like, leaving most of his original landscape vision (and, most importantly, the restored bits) closest to the water features that grace each of his parks.

For a one-day bike or car tour, I'd suggest that you have breakfast in Oak Park and pack a lunch. Start early in Columbus with a walk around the lake, exploring the wooded paths around the "prairie river." (The waterfall, like all city park fountains, only works May through September.) Proceed along Washington Boulevard to Garfield Park's Music Court and formal garden, then north to the Golden Dome and stone bridge and finally to the majestic Conservatory and its grounds, including the demonstration garden behind and Garfield Market Place in the former stables to the north. Follow the boulevards (Franklin and Sacramento) up to Humboldt Park, passing the stables (don't know when the Puerto Rican art museum will open) and using the boathouse as base for a walk around the restored lake landscape. Proceed along the grand boulevards up to Logan Square and have dinner at Lula.

You might also detour one block on Sacramento to see the rain garden at the Chicago Center for Green Technology, among the nation's most environmentally advanced buildings.

This itinerary leaves out Douglas Park, which has a somewhat nondescript Flower Court but a lovely fieldhouse, and McKinley Park, the largest of the West Parks Commission's "social reform" parks and a great place to get a feel for the industrial immigrant neighborhoods that were once Chicago's soul.

Bring a copy of the AIA Guide to Chicago with you, as well as any books you can find on Jens Jensen. The Chicago Park District website also has extensive descriptions of each park's landscapes. The one neighborhood I might recommend contrary to Drover's advice is the Midway Park area of Austin, extensively covered in the AIA Guide.

[Lookout Kid]

What a great idea! I'm going to do the same when the weather improves. I've been to the Garfield Park Conservatory before and have wandered around Humboldt Park a little bit, but there is much more to see.

[via chicago]

If you get a chance, pick this book up before you go to the Garfield Park Conservatory (or get it while you're there). Just came out last month, and gives an excellent history of the park, as well as the neighborhood and its importance there. Some incredible photographs as well
Amazon.com: Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago's West Side: Books: Julia Sniderman Bachrach,Jo Ann Nathan,Alex Kotlowitz

One of the nation’s most stunning and intriguing botanical havens, the Garfield Park Conservatory celebrates its one-hundredth anniversary in 2008. Often referred to as “landscape art under glass,” Jens Jensen’s revolutionary design is a poetic interpretation of his beloved Midwestern landscape as it was in prehistoric times. The tropical plantings, water features and stonework were in shocking contrast to the showy displays of typical Victorian hothouses, and his Conservatory quickly became one of the region’s most captivating attractions.

The Conservatory is at the center of a larger story: how nature, urban design, and horticulture helped to shape one of Chicago’s most interesting neighborhoods. As early as the 1870s, architect and engineer William Le Baron Jenney began the verdant tradition of Chicago’s West Side by designing its seminal park and boulevard system. For more than a century, ideas and visions of nature have influenced the development of Garfield Park, its magnificent conservatory, and the surrounding West Side community. Today gardening and the greening movement are a catalyst for reviving this vital part of Chicago.

Published in honor of the centennial, Inspired by Nature blossoms into a living history that looks to the future, and covers everything from the history of the conservatory and Garfield Park to the revival of the surrounding community. This fascinating and comprehensive volume includes historical essays, archival photography and plans, as well as contemporary color photography by Brook Collins. Inspired by Nature also features vignettes by Chicago Public School students, who write about their experiences as members of the Garfield Park Community. A reflection of the passionate interest and partnerships behind the Garfield Park revival, as well as a celebration of nature’s important role in people’s lives, Inspired by Nature is an essential publication for anyone with an interest in Chicago history, urban parks and communities, and the botanic splendor of the Garfield Park Conservatory.