4501 North Clarendon Avenue

Chicago, IL 60640

Date built: 1916

Architect: C. W. Kallal

What Preservation Chicago says about it:

"The Clarendon Park Community Center and Field House was created to 'facilitate lasting public access to the lake and to insure the health of all Chicagoans.' Clarendon Municipal Bathing Beach demonstrated Chicago’s commitment to the 'Reclamation of the Lake Front for the People' by Chicago Plan Commissioner Walter Moody. There was an important recognition as the Lake waters reputation shifted from the source of water-born illnesses and pollution several decades earlier and such amenities as the Clarendon Park facilities ushered in a new era and message, which reached national prominence in various publications, The building, designed by city architect, C.W. Kallal in a Mediterranean Revival Style, an architectural style that was used for such buildings as Marshall and Fox’s South Shore Country Club of 1916 (now South Shore Cultural Center) and the 63rd Street Bathing Pavilion in 1919. This style, also referred to as the 'Italian Resort Style' was defined by tall towers capped with hipped-roofs clad in clay tiles, large entry colonnades, porticos, loggias and open-air promenades compliments this style of architecture.

The Clarendon Park Community Center has experienced multiple alterations over time, some of them being extensive, heavy-handed and inappropriate. Due to some of these changes and additions, water infiltration has impacted the building and the community’s ability to use several spaces and rooms. City Code issues, necessary improvements and maintenance issues continue to be deferred."