Shedd Park Fieldhouse

Address: 3669 West 23rd Street Year Built: 1917 1928 (Gymnasium Addition) Architect: William Drummond Date Designated a Chicago Landmark: February 11, 2004

Fieldhouses like the Shedd Park Fieldhouse were built to serve as the centers of recreational activities in the City's smaller parks in working-class neighborhoods. The original 1917 portion of the fieldhouse was designed in the Prairie style by William Eugene Drummond, a protegee of Frank Lloyd Wright and one of the City's most skilled designers in the Prairie tradition. The building's rear gymnasium addition, also designed in the Prairie style in 1928, was the work of the architectural firm of Michaelsen and Rognstad who produced a variety of excellent historically-inspired designs in Chicago, including large fieldhouses for Humboldt, Garfield and Douglas Parks. The fieldhouse was named for Chicago entrepreneur and philanthropist John G. Shedd, who donated the land for the surrounding park which also bears his name.