{"nrhp_refnum":"82002575","name":"Ravinia Park Historic District","other_names":[],"category":"district","location":{"address":"Roughly bounded by Lambert Tree Ave., Sheridan Rd., St. Johns Ave., Rambler Lane, and Ravinia Park Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Highland Park","county":"Lake County","state":"IL","lat":42.159871198000076,"lon":-87.77403861099998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1982-09-29","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Ravinia Park Historic District is a roughly 36-acre park in Highland Park, Lake County, Illinois, begun in 1902 by the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad as a pleasure resort. It is now the summer music festival site and summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.","why_significant":"The district preserves two surviving 1904 buildings by architect Peter Weber, the Murray Theatre and the Casino, along with original wooden gates, all with Arts and Crafts detailing. It is also significant as a long-running center for classical music and opera, from the Golden Age of Opera in 1918-1931 to the Ravinia Festival after 1936.","narrative":"Ravinia Park occupies about 36 acres in Highland Park, Illinois, and serves as the summer home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. It began in 1902 when the Chicago and Milwaukee Electric Railroad bought wooded land to create a resort that would attract railroad riders. Architect Peter Weber designed four buildings, and the park opened in August 1904 as an amusement park. Two of those buildings survive: the Casino and the theatre, later renamed the Murray Theatre. Both are stucco with towers, red tile roofs, stained glass and Arts and Crafts woodwork. Wooden entrance gates with broad elliptical arches also remain. After the railway entered receivership in 1908, opera became the main attraction, and the years 1918-1931 were known as the Golden Age of Opera at Ravinia. The park closed during the Depression and reopened in 1936 as the Ravinia Festival. A 1950 concrete pavilion replaced a wooden one lost to fire, and the grounds remain in active concert use.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Peter Weber (architect of the original buildings); Holabird and Root (later pavilion and restaurant work)","architectural_style":"Spanish-derived forms with Arts and Crafts detailing","criteria":[],"status_note":"Actively used each concert season; the Murray Theatre was renovated in 1976 and the Casino partially renovated in 1956.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:34.829997-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/60/8912/28891260/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/82002575.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002575/d1ba52d91d-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/82002575/d1ba52d91d-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:20080706_Ravinia_Festival.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">TonyTheTiger (t/c/bio/WP:CHICAGO/WP:LOTM)</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:20080706_Ravinia_Festival.JPG"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891260","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ravinia_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133502844"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/lake-county/ravinia-park-historic-district-82002575/"}