Mural Preservation Project

The Chicago Park District and The Chicago Conservation Center are conserving 58 murals in 11 Chicago Park Field Houses. This project is made possible through the generous support of many corporate, foundation and private donations.

The field houses themselves are architectural gems that were built to serve their communities, and continue today to provide vital neighborhood resources through artistic, athletic and social activities. The Progressive and New Deal Era murals, painted between 1912 and 1941, decorating the walls of these sanctuaries reveal our history, beliefs and hopes for the future.

Carr Cialdella Photography is donating their architectural photography services to document the restored murals in these field houses. 

Gage Park is located at 2411 W. 55th Street (Garfield Boulevard) and straddles the Back of the Yards and Gage Park neighborhoods. The South Park Commission started acquiring land for this park in 1873. After the death of South Park Commissioner George W. Gage in 1875, the park was named in his honor. The park’s early development was slow and credit goes to local petitioning residents for the eventual completion of a field house in 1926. Tom Lea painted the WPA mural adorning a wall in the auditorium in 1931. From his Early Illinois Series,  the mural depicts explorers and pioneers looking west with a figure above pointing the way. >>