Community Area #27 - East Garfield Park

East Garfield Park is a west side neighborhood, located about 4 miles directly west of the Loop. It's home to two beautiful landmarks: Garfield Park Conservatory and Garfield Park.

The conservatory was built in 1908 and was designed by famous landscape architect Jens Jensen in conjunction with the engineering firm Hitchings and Company.

Garfield Park Conservatory has 6 major rooms:
The Palm House - which includes a double coconut palm and a chocolate tree
Sugar from the Sun - with banana, orange and pineapple trees
The Children's Garden - my kids love the slide
The Desert House
The Aroid House
The Show House
The Fern House - in the middle of them all

Over on the east side of the building, there's a wing with meeting rooms. The long hall that leads to the meeting rooms is the Horticulture Hall and has a beautiful fountain in it. The intricate and complex detail on the fountain is fascinating.

South of the conservatory is Garfield Park, one of the three major parks on the west side - the other two being Humboldt Park and Douglas Park. The Garfield Park Fieldhouse was constructed in 1928. Designed by Michaelsen and Rognstad, it originally served as the administrative headquarters of the West Parks Commission. When the 22 independent parks commissions merged in 1934 to form the Chicago Park District, the building was converted to the park fieldhouse.


A large lagoon sits behind (to the west) of the fieldhouse. Two beautiful sculptures are along the southern path of the lagoon. One is Lincoln the Railsplitter. It was created by Charles J. Mulligan, a student of Lorado Taft and former head of the Sculpture Department at the Art Institute. Unlike other statues of Lincoln which portray him as a long-frocked statesman, this statue represents him as a workingman and a pioneer.

The other is a sculpture of the poet Robert Burns.