Grand Crossing Park

Grand Crossing Park is a 17.16-acre neighborhood park on Chicago's south side, bounded by East 76th and 78th Streets, South Dobson Avenue and South Ingleside Avenue. The South Park Commission began planning it in 1907 as one of four new parks, and the Olmsted Brothers prepared plans that were not carried out. Commission staff designed the park instead, with a depressed ball field on the south, and the field house, pool, playground, running track and service yard on the north. The two-story, cruciform field house was built in 1915 of exposed aggregate concrete with classical details, and it matches the one at Trumbull Park. Its design echoes the earlier Burnham-designed park buildings and the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Inside, original woodwork and a five-panel mural, An Allegory of Recreation, survive. Changes include a replaced roof, a painted exterior, a modern pool and lost trees and fencing. The park is listed for its representative design and integrity.