Pulaski Park Fieldhouse

Took my family here and had a great time. We splashed in the kids pool for several hours. Will definitely go back on the three nice summer days we get.

Old, poorly maintained and expensive, but it’s fairly conveniently located near my work, so if you’re seeking an 80 year old basketball gym and bathrooms that smell like they haven’t been cleaned since the same era, come on over…

one of chicagos hidden land marks, they built stuff with quality back then.

The fieldhouse is a really beautiful old building, with grand spaces and quiet corridors, large windows and high ceilings. I attended the Chicago Bike Swap (
) over the weekend and this was my first time inside this architectural gem. There were several gymnasiums, a theatre stage, murals and several smaller rooms useful for art making or community gatherings. Walking through this building is like stepping back in time a century.

Okay. The bathrooms are horrible. It’s like I went back to the future, and saw these 1950s style bathrooms. There wasn’t soap in one of the bathrooms. The urinals were old style.
Anyways, I did have fun here. There was the Vegan Chicago Mania festival here. Totally loved it. I got food at Chicago Diners. Picked up a meal that had tofu, noodles, and veggies. I forgot what it’s called. It was okay. I should have bought from elsewhere. What I really liked at this Vegan Fest was that there were free samples of vegan/​non GMo food. A bunch of these vendors sell at whole foods or will start to sell there. I’m definetly going to buy these products there.

This building and the adjacent park are really beautiful and fairly well kept. The fieldhouse itself is an architectural treat, and a historical fixture of the Noble Square neighborhood.
The pool is free and open to the public, the murals are refreshing and the landscaping is almost always fresh. This is a great local area to bring your family and friends, and enjoy the nice weather. I’m proud to have this park in my neighborhood.

Really beautiful building. I admire its detail and workmanship every time I walk by it. Its also next to a baseball field and a neighborhood pool, and I love seeing the community having fun in Pulaski Park. The building and the park giveva really great neighborhood feel.

Wonderful pool and splash play area, with attentive and respectful lifeguards. The bathrooms and showers really show their age, though. Make sure you go through the changing area to the back toilets… so sad that such a wonderful facility is not given the financing to maintain or improve.

This place is a beaut. The architectural details (think murals, etc) are completely unexpected and remind me of a time long ago, where civic pride & duty (along with cultural identity & immigrant assimilation) trumped postmodern attempts at «urban renewal.» Here is a blurb taken from
:
«Completed in 1914, Pulaski Park was designed by architect William Carbys Zimmerman and renowned landscape architect Jens Jensen. In 1919, Jensen met with officials at the Art Institute of Chicago to discuss the idea of a competition for art students to paint a mural on the semi-​circular proscenium above the stage in the field house auditorium. The West Park Commissioners provided the prizes of $ 100, $ 50, and $ 25 and instructors at the School of the Art Institute selected the winners. The first prize went to James G. Gilbert, who received $ 200 for materials as well as the $ 100 prize. In 1920, Gilbert painted his mural composed of a dramatic series of allegorical figures. Gilbert graduated from the School of the Art Institute and went on to teach painting at the University of Chicago. The Chicago Conservation Center fully restored this exquisite mural in 2007.
A second mural, hidden in the upper tower room of the Pulaski Park field house portrays Polish themes. A Chicago Park District arts and crafts class created this painting in the late 1930s.»
This place is gorgeous and a hidden gem. Check it out!