Wicker Park Garden Club Design Series

A series dedicated to the exploration of landscape design and its application to our home gardens and city landscapes.

Wicker Park Field House
1425 N Damen Ave

SPEAKER
Julia Bachrach – Historian & Author
chicagoparkdistrict.com

TOPIC
Clarence Hatzfeld – Architect
Prairie and Revival Style Designs

RESERVATIONS
$8.00 cash or check to the Wicker Park Garden Club paid at door.
RSVP to wpgarden@aol.com or 773-278-9075.

Clarence Hatzfeld (1873–1943) was a prolific Chicago architect who has been relatively unknown, despite the fact that the city retains a large collection of his handsome Prairie and Revival style park field houses, commercial buildings, and residences. Although Chicago Park District historian Julia Bachrach had done some research on Hatzfeld over the years, strange things began to happen when she and her husband went house-hunting in the summer of 2008.

In this lecture, Julia will reveal why she thinks this architect who died more than sixty years ago is haunting her, and what she has learned about him through this ghostly experience.  She will also provide an overview of Hatzfeld’s work including dozens of northwest side field houses such as those in Avondale, Kilbourn, Indian Boundary, Independence, Portage, and Athletic Field Parks and other buildings he designed in the Lincoln Park, Humboldt Park, and Lake View neighborhoods.

Julia Bachrach has written several books including: The City in a Garden: A Photographic History of Chicago's Parks (2001) and Inspired by Nature: The Garfield Park Conservatory and Chicago’s West Side (2008)–- the latter a project co-authored by Bachrach’s  long term protégé and Jens Jensen “groupie”, Jo Ann Nathan.

For more information about upcoming events, visit wpgarden.org.