{"nrhp_refnum":"03000787","name":"Davis Square","other_names":["Square No. 14"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughlu bounded by W. 44th St., W, 45th St., S. Marshfield Ave. and S. Hemitage Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.81307162850007,"lon":-87.66750828637372,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2003-08-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Entertainment/Recreation","Social History","Architecture","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Davis Square is an 8.29-acre neighborhood park and field house complex in the Back-of-the-Yards area of Chicago, Cook County, Illinois, opened on May 15, 1905 as one of the South Park Commission's new small parks.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the park is nationally significant as part of the South Park Commission's early 20th-century system of neighborhood parks offering recreation and social services to crowded tenement districts. Its design by D.H. Burnham & Co. and the Olmsted Brothers influenced small park development across the country. The Beaux Arts field house in exposed aggregate concrete is also cited as architecturally significant.","narrative":"Davis Square is an 8.29-acre park on Chicago's south side, in the neighborhood known as Back-of-the-Yards. It opened on May 15, 1905, as one of fourteen planned small parks created by the South Park Commission to bring recreation, education and social services to crowded immigrant districts. The Olmsted Brothers designed the landscape and D.H. Burnham & Co. designed the buildings. The centerpiece is a Beaux Arts field house of exposed aggregate concrete, with three arched entries, keystones and molded nautilus details. Nearby are a swimming pool, a pool house, a spray pool on the site of the original wading pool, sand courts, playground areas and ball fields. Dr. Nathan Smith Davis, a prominent figure in Chicago medicine, is the park's namesake. The park was listed for its role in a pioneering park model that influenced neighborhood park design nationwide, and for its architecture and landscape. Alterations over the decades have not removed its overall historic character.","period_of_significance":"1905 - 1953","architect_builder":"Burnham, D.H & Company; Olmsted Brothers","architectural_style":"Beaux Arts Classicism","criteria":["A","C"],"status_note":"Continues to function as a community and recreational center; the field house was rehabilitated in 1997 and the pool house was rehabilitated later.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.649211-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/10/8910/28891010/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/03000787.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000787/1df8b80441-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/03000787/1df8b80441-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Thshriver","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Davis_Square_1.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Thshriver</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Davis_Square_1.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"12000040","name":"Chicago Park Boulevard System Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/chicago-park-boulevard-system-historic-district-12000040/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891010","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Davis_Square_(Chicago)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q85755906"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/davis-square-03000787/"}