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Café Brauer

1908 establishments in IllinoisChicago LandmarksCommercial buildings completed in 1908Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Chicago
Cafe Brauer in Chicago
Cafe Brauer in Chicago

Café Brauer (also known as the South Pond Refectory) is a restaurant building and official landmark located in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois, at the edge of the Lincoln Park Zoo. It was designed by Dwight H. Perkins and completed in 1908. The building, known for its green roof, red bricks, second floor ballroom, and lagoon-side setting, has been called "an outstanding example of the Prairie School of architecture" and "perhaps the finest expression of Perkins' design philosophy". It was financed by the Brauer family of Chicago, who worked in the restaurant business, and was one of the most popular restaurants in Chicago during the early twentieth century. Caspar Brauer, who died at age 68 on April 29, 1940, was the longtime proprietor of Cafe Brauer.The original restaurant closed in the 1940s. In 1947, Cafe Brauer's second floor ballroom was opened to the public as an indoor recreation room featuring ballroom dancing for children, square dancing, and waltzing. At the time, it was announced that the facility would be renamed the Lincoln Fieldhouse. By the 1960s, the structure was largely used for storage. Part of the second floor was used as a theater, and there was a small cafeteria on the first floor. A nine-member committee was chosen on October 10, 1967 by Chicago Park Board Vice-President Daniel Shannon to look into restoring the structure as a restaurant-ballroom and adding an outdoor dance pavilion. Their project never moved forward because of restrictions on the sale of alcohol in park district facilities.In 1987, the Lincoln Park Zoo Society began a $4.2 million restoration project. The second floor ballroom was renovated so that it could be used for private events, and the first floor was remodeled as a small family restaurant and ice cream parlor.Cafe Brauer was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986, and it received Chicago Landmark status on February 5, 2003.The building is located on the site of the South Pond Refectory, a wood-frame boathouse and restaurant designed by William Le Baron Jenney which was open from 1882 until 1908. Café Brauer is sometimes called the South Pond Refectory, the primary name for the site used in its National Register nomination.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article Café Brauer (License: CC BY-SA 3.0, Authors, Images).

Café Brauer
North Stockton Drive, Chicago Lincoln Park

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Wikipedia: Café BrauerContinue reading on Wikipedia

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Latitude Longitude
N 41.919166666667 ° E -87.633888888889 °
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Café Brauer (South Pond Refectory)

North Stockton Drive 2021
60614 Chicago, Lincoln Park
Illinois, United States
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Cafe Brauer in Chicago
Cafe Brauer in Chicago
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Lincoln Park Conservatory
Lincoln Park Conservatory

Positioned near the shore of Lake Michigan, the Lincoln Park Conservatory (1.2 ha / 3 acres) is a conservatory and botanical garden in Lincoln Park in Chicago, Illinois. The conservatory is located at 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, and part of the Lincoln Park, Chicago community area. The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool and the North Pond Nature Sanctuary are further to the north along Stockton Drive. Along with the Garfield Park Conservatory on Chicago's west side, the Lincoln Park Conservatory provides significant horticultural collections, educational programs and community outreach efforts.Lincoln Park Conservatory is a Victorian Era glass house, built in late nineteenth century. It contains four rooms displaying exotic plants from around the world. Rare orchids, like the Moth orchid, can be found in the Orchid room. A formal garden is situated in front of the Conservatory; one of the oldest public gardens in Chicago, designed and planted in the late 1870s. Since its foundation, the Formal Garden has been the home of many sculptors and works of art. The most famous are the Bates fountains, the Schiller monument, along with Sir George Solti's bust, which was relocated to Grant Park in 2006. The well-known Shakespeare monument is located across the street in the Grandmother's Garden, which was formerly known as Old English Garden. The Formal Garden is planted between May and June. Though the peak viewing time is between July and August, the display lasts till mid-October.