“As warm weather eases its way into the city, the Burnham Building, a 120-year-old pavilion in Jackson Park, ought to be a perfect little spot to visit.
“Located on Marquette Drive just north of 67th Street, the one-story, open-air structure sits on a slight elevation, allowing the building’s patrons to better catch Lake Michigan views and breezes. The view from the rear of the building is no slouch, either. It overlooks the Jackson Park Golf Course and the residential skyline of the South Shore neighborhood.
“But the building designed to resemble a Greek temple is instead a Chicago Park District ruin. It sits fenced off and rotting away in spite of its visible roadside location along Marquette Drive and its history: The 1912 pavilion was designed by Daniel Burnham’s architecture firm, D.H. Burnham & Company.
“It’s a situation that should have been remedied years ago.
“I think it’s an eyesore in the community,” said prominent South Shore resident Carol L. Adams. “And it’s a sign of the neglect that often happens in Chicago around historical buildings. That place is historic, and it needs to be restored.”
“Take a walk though the 551-acre Frederick Law Olmsted-designed Jackson Park, especially this time of the year, and its beauty is absolutely apparent. And so is the city’s decades long neglect of this historic, nationally recognized park.
“The concrete stairway at the picturesque overlook and roundabout at 64th Street and Promontory Drive, just north of LaRabida Children’s Hospital, is crumbling. The Clarence Darrow Bridge at the park’s Columbia Basin — built for the 1893 World’s Fair — is overgrown and so unsafe that it’s been cut off from the public since 2013.
“When you think about the numbers of people who’ll be coming to our community [to visit the Obama Center], if you think about the drive along South Shore Drive, you know that [the condition of Jackson Park] needs to be remedied,” Adams said.” (Bey, Chicago Sun-Times, 4/30/25)