qondio.com/2SpT

Walking Chicago’s Hyde Park—Home of Barack Obama

By Julie Richman

From Barack Obama’s House to the University of Chicago Campus

Barack Obama who will be the 44th president of the United States of America lives in a neighborhood called Hyde Park-Kenwood that is very much like a small town within a large city. It is about 10 miles from Downtown Chicago and is adjacent to Lake Michigan on the East and the University of Chicago on the South.

I, and all of my neighbors now find that we live in a famous neighborhood. Most people who live here are used to living near or next door to well known people associated with the University of Chicago. Having the president-elect of the United States from our town is certainly a very amazing experience, and everyone I know is very excited about it.

Hyde Park is a quiet and diverse city neighborhood. There are many large old homes here as well as numerous apartment buildings, cottages and new townhouses. There are a number of parks and running paths along the lake shore. People enjoy walking and the route from Barack Obama’s house to the University of Chicago is an interesting walk that I am certain the Obama family has often walked. One can also walk to Jackson Park from the president-elect’s house, and that will be another article.

Begin Walking

Start on Hyde Park Boulevard and Greenwood Avenue in front of K.A.M. Isaiah Israel Congregation. The Byzantine style building houses the oldest Jewish congregation in Chicago. Walk East on Hyde Park Boulevard to Woodlawn Avenue and then turn South on Woodlawn to 53drd Street.

There is a small shopping mall on the corner where it is possible to buy fried chicken from Harold’d Chicken Shack and organic produce from Hyde Park Produce. Continue South to 55th Street where you can have coffee at the Starbucks on the corner. Afterwards, head West to the Gerald Ratner Athletics Center located at the southwest corner of Ellis Avenue and 56th Street. It is a large modern building designed by famed architect Cesar Pelli that looks like a ship. Behind it are tennis courts, a running track, and fields for soccer and baseball. Many folks around here use it as their gym.

Across the street from the athletic center is Court Theater and behind it with an entrance on 5550 S. Greenwood Ave is the the David and Alfred Smart Museum of Art. It houses a permanent collection of over 10,000 objects, spanning five millennia of both Western and Eastern civilizations.

Henry Moore's "Nuclear Energy"

If you continue South on Ellis Avenue you will walk past Henry Moore's "Nuclear Energy" sculpture built on the site of the first nuclear reaction. It is on the East side of Ellis Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets to the west of Regenstein Library on the corner of 57th Street and Ellis Avenue.

Turn East on 57th Street walking in front of the library until reaching the library entrance on one side of the street and Cobb Gate that is the entrance to the University of Chicago Quadrangle on the other. It is recognizable because it is a tall Gothic structure with gargoyles on top and on either side of it. The University buildings are based on the English Gothic model of Oxford University.

The Main Quadrangles

As you walk through the gate you will see Botany Pond to your left. It is a very shallow pond containing many water lilies and some occasional visits by ducks passing through. When you walk into the center quadrangle you are in a grassy mall surrounded on all sides by the classroom and research buildings of the University of Chicago. There are small flower gardens and movable benches set out in this park as well as walkways leading to the different buildings and towards exits from the quadrangle to the South, West and East. There are too many interesting buildings to describe in this section of the campus, but the small chapel called Bond Chapel is certainly worth a visit.

Midway Plaisance

If you walk South and exit on 59th Street you will be across the street from the Midway, once home to the 1893 World’s Colombian Exhibition. This long landscaped park that runs from the East at Jackson Park to Cottage Grove Avenue and Washington Park on the West is called the Midway Plaisance. It has an ice skating rink, soccer fields, and several statues of famous scientists and thinkers.

Fountain of Time

At the Western edge of the Midway is the famous sculpture called Fountain of Time. It is a 102-foot (31 m) long sculpture located in Washington Park created by Lorado Taft and installed in 1922 around a large reflecting pool. Loredo Taft had been a professor at the university and the art studio known as Midway Studios is where he worked. At the Eastern edge of the midway is a large equestrian statue of a Bohemian knight, to honor Thomas Masaryk, the first president of Czechoslovakia.

Oriental Institute

If you exit on the Eastern edge of the quadrangle you will see The Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1155 East 58th Street. Founded in 1919 by James Henry Breasted it specializes in the archaeology, philology, and history of early Near Eastern civilizations.

Robie House

Continue walking East on 58th Street past the Oriental Institute until you reach Woodlawn Avenue. On the corner of Woodlawn Avenue and 58th Street is The Robie House, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright for his client Frederick C. Robie. It is considered one of the most important buildings in the history of American architecture. The building revolutionized architecture and its dramatic overhangs and sweeping horizontals still look very modern although it was designed in 1910. This Prairie style house is open for tours.

Looking Southwest from Robie House on the corner of 59th Street and Woodlawn Avenue looms the most monumental building on the campus, Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, designed by Bertram G. Goodhue, and named for John D. Rockefeller, the industrialist whose enormous wealth guaranteed the founding of the university.

Now that we are on Woodlawn Avenue again, if we turn North and walk back to Hyde Park boulevard, we will have made a full circle of one walk around Hyde Park in Chicago.

Contributor's Note

I have walked this route many times. There is always something interesting to see and it’s fun to be on campus when there are a lot of students walking back and forth to class. It is a very quiet walk on weekends.

PLEASE VISIT THE CONTRIBUTOR'S WEBSITE

Hyde Park Historical Society
History of Hyde Park in Chicago
www.hydeparkhistory.org

health Nov 13, 2008 19:06

Thanks for the virtual guided tour! Where exactly is the Obama residence located? Thank you also for the photos. I'm guessing the second photo is Robie house. Is the first photo the Fountain of Time sculpture?

Update: I went to your website and saw that the first photo is Henry Moore's Nuclear Energy. Will spend some more time at your website. Cool site, by the way, don't see many historical societies on Qassia.

The Obama residence is across the street from K.A.M. Temple. It is not very accessible any more because the entire street is off limits. I have now labeled the points of interest but I have not yet taken a picture of the Fountain of Time but you can see it on Wikipedia.

I feel special finding this submission that was on my birthday. Did you know coincidentally there is a city named Obama in Japan?

The copyright for this content entitled "Walking Chicago’s Hyde Park—Home of Barack Obama" has been specified by the contributor as:

This content may not be copied, distributed or adapted by anyone under any circumstances.