Neighborhood News: Edgewater’s Berger Park Cultural Center a link to Chicago’s past
The Chicago Park District is full of repurposed mansions from its settlement days.
From the South Shore Cultural Center to the Richard Driehaus Museum to the Berger Park Cultural Center, 6205 N. Sheridan Road, these repurposed mansions offer breathtaking views of Lake Michigan, a glimpse into Chicago history, and provide creative venues for cultural events, weddings and other celebrations today.
History of Berger Park
In 1885, John Lewis Cochran – known as the father of Edgewater – purchased a substantial amount of lakefront property in 1885.
Cochran had grand plans for the community he purchased, which included subdividing 350 acres, installing macadam streets and stone sidewalks, constructing a drainage system, and installing a modern electrical network that could provide for almost any home built in the community. Indeed, advertisements in the late 1880s noted that Edgewater was “the only electric lighted suburb adjacent to Chicago.”
Chicago annexed Edgewater in 1898, becoming one of the 77 communities that make up the City of Chicago.
The Gunder House, officially the North Lakeside Cultural Center, was built for Samuel Gunder, according to Wikipedia sources. Gunder was the president of the Pozzinni Pharmaceutical Company. He married Nettie E. Weaver in 1884 and commissioned this building in 1909. Myron Henry Church designed the house, which was completed the following year, featuring hardwood floors, original woodwork, and antique light fixtures among other charming details. The Gunders sold the house in 1919 and moved to Los Angeles, California.
During the Great Depression, the Chicago Bureau of Parks and Recreation sought to add beachfront land on the north side of the city. Edgewater residents were interested in beach activities, but lived too far from Lincoln Park. The bureau acquired the properties and named it Granville Beach and Park after nearby Granville Avenue. Residents still lived in the two houses until the Viatorian Fathers acquired them in the 1940s.
The Clerics of St. Viator used the buildings to house student priests. In 1945, they converted the two coach houses into additional residences. The order sold the rights to the beachfront land to the Chicago Park District in 1965 and moved out in 1979. The park district built a small playground along Granville Avenue in 1976. When the clerics moved out in 1979, developers sought to purchase the houses and demolish them for high-rise apartments, which now dominated the Edgewater lakefront.
The Edgewater Community Council opposed this type of sale and convinced the park district to purchase the houses. The clerics agreed on the condition that the buildings be used for non-profit purposes. The sale was completed for $2.3 million to the Chicago Park District.
Today: ‘The Ostrich,’ Classes and Workshops
After the sale, the Gunder house was converted to the Berger Park Cultural Center. They now offer workshops and classes, and their coach house is now a café.
From now until May 17, the Cultural Center is presenting the original play, “The Ostrich,” utilizing multiple rooms on multiple floors in the mansion, making for an interactive audience experience during the 100-minute, intermission-free show.
Written by Wendy A. Schmidt and directed by Eileen Tull, the play, via Block Club Chicago, focuses on the small town of Ostrich, Indiana, where Orville and Wilbur Wright, the Wright Brothers, have arrived in present-day Ostrich, Indiana, to build an airstrip. Chuck, a farmer, and his sister, the mayor and proprietor of a tacky bed and breakfast called The Ostrich Feather, must grapple with tradeoffs in the effort to do what’s best for the place they love.
Can technological progress finally get The Ostrich Feather off the ground? The Ostrich explores the human cost of invention when fused with capitalism.
The first floor has been transformed into an ostrich-themed bed and breakfast for this dark comedy, with the audience getting a seat in the middle of the absurdity.
The play will be performed Thursdays – Saturdays at 7 pm, with an Industry performance on Monday, May 12 at 7pm. For tickets and information, click here.
Alison Moran-Powers and Dean’s Team Chicago
