{"nrhp_refnum":"86003154","name":"Lincoln Park, South Pond Refectory","other_names":["Cafe Brauer"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"2021 N. Stockton Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Chicago","county":"Cook County","state":"IL","lat":41.919088145000046,"lon":-87.63400023599996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1986-11-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Architecture"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story brick refectory building (known as Cafe Brauer) in Lincoln Park, Chicago, at 2021 North Stockton Drive beside the South Pond. It was built in 1908 to designs by Perkins and Hamilton and is owned by the Chicago Park District.","why_significant":"The nomination argues it is an important work by architect Dwight H. Perkins and an early, finely detailed example of Prairie School design applied to a public building. It also reflects the shift in urban parks from passive landscapes to organized recreation, shown by including a first-class restaurant in a park building, which was unprecedented in Chicago.","narrative":"Cafe Brauer, originally the South Pond Refectory, is a three-story brick building in Chicago's Lincoln Park, completed in 1908. It was designed as a restaurant with a large dance and social hall, plus a boat ticket office at ground level. A T-shaped central block is joined by curved, covered arcades to two end pavilions, with open-air dining terraces above. Walls of varied red, green and brown brick are enriched with terra-cotta and tile, and broad hipped roofs overhang the walls. The design came from the Chicago firm of Perkins and Hamilton, led by Dwight H. Perkins, who had served on the city's Special Park Commission. The building is regarded as one of his earliest and finest Prairie School works for a public client. It also marked a change in park planning, since a major leased restaurant in a park building was new to Chicago. It became a popular social gathering place, known for its German and Scandinavian clientele.","period_of_significance":"1900-","architect_builder":"PERKINS AND HAMILTON","architectural_style":"Prairie School","criteria":[],"status_note":"Occupied and in use as a restaurant, with a lunchroom on the ground level. The second-level dining hall is used for storage. The form notes alterations, including removal of the original roof tiles and skylight around 1938, and says the Park District intends to restore the building.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.39101-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/32/8923/28892332/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/86003154.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003154/be9b09b0bc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/86003154/be9b09b0bc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Victorgrigas","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cafe_Brauer_in_Chicago.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Victorgrigas</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:Cafe_Brauer_in_Chicago.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"94001029","name":"Lincoln Park","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/illinois/lincoln-park-94001029/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28892332","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caf%C3%A9_Brauer","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5017227"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/cook-county/lincoln-park-south-pond-refectory-86003154/"}