Campus, Parks, Kenwood
University of Chicago Campus
The University of Chicago breeds culture like its scientists rack up Nobel Prizes. With concerts in the soaring Rockefeller Memorial Chapel, archeological wonders at the free Oriental Institute, the professional Court Theatre, the Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Robie House, and the Smart Museum's moving contemporary artworks, U of C should be drawing more culturally-inclined Chicagoans south of the Stevenson Expressway. -Not For Tourists Guide to Chicago
English Gothic in all its glory-lancet windows, leering gargoyles, intimate cloisters, and crenelated towers-is the hallmark of the tree-shaded campus quadrangles. Construction began in 1890 with funds provided by John D. Rockefeller, who described the University as the best investment I ever made.
Parks
From "The Point" on the shores of Lake Michigan to Jackson Park, with its bird sanctuary and Osaka Garden, on the east to Washington Park on the west, Hyde Park encompasses miles of majestic lakefront and green spaces. The gardens and the linking Midway Plaisance, home to the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, were designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, creator of New York's Central Park.
Kenwood District
Once referred to as the "Lake Forest of the South Side," Kenwood's residents included lumber merchant Martin Ryerson, meatpacker Gustavus Swift, and Sears Roebuck executive Julius Rosenwald. Influential architects-such as George Maher, John W. Root, Howard Van Doren Shaw, and Frank Lloyd Wright-designed its mansions.