City of Chicago Landmarks Division Plan Review Committee approved the new preservation sensitive project for the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture housed in the Humboldt Park receptory and stables. Preservation Chicago is thrilled with this outcome. This represents a very different direction from the original design. Despite difficult original circumstances, the process was highly collaborative and constructive.

This represents a very different direction from the original design. Despite the difficult original circumstances, the subsequent design process was highly collaborative and constructive.

We appreciate Billy Ocasio’s gracious recognition and gratitude to Ward Miller and Preservation Chicago during the City of Chicago Landmarks Division Plan Review Committee for playing such a helpful role in finding a way to forward.

Ward Miller worked closely with leadership from the National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture and their architecture design team to to determine a new approach that would meet their programmatic needs as well as respecting and celebrating the historic fabric of the Humboldt Park receptory and stable.

Many of these creative alternative ideas were incorporated and were presented at the public meeting as the path moving forward. These ideas included the demolition of the partially built cinder-block structure and using the concrete pad as a sculpture garden, create a glass-enclosed courtyard, inspired by the Three-Arts Club, in the historic structure to allow for year-round programing and to eliminate current white tent, and relocating the archive building and use to a nearby location beyond the greenspace of Humboldt Park.

Preservation Chicago played a central role in helping to amplify and document the irregularities in the original design and construction. We worked closely with neighborhood partners including Humboldt Park resident Kurt Gippert who launched the Change.org petition, and like-minded organizations including Juanita Irizarry, former executive director of Friends of the Parks.

“Chicago’s National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture is planning to build an outdoor educational space, garden and enclosed glass atrium on the site of what was intended to be the museum’s archives center, a controversial project shut down by the city in 2022.

“Museum president and CEO Billy Ocasio shared the news at a community meeting Tuesday at the museum, 3015 W. Division St., alongside Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) and architects working on the project.

“The museum is ‘currently navigating the city approval process and [does] not have a confirmed timeline for when construction will begin,’ Ocasio said. The museum is aiming to complete the expansion by September 2025, in time to celebrate the museum’s 25th anniversary, Ocasio told Block Club.

“The expansion comes more than two years after the Puerto Rican museum started building an archives center without proper city permits in 2022, which led the city to file suit against museum leaders to halt the project.

“That partially built structure was razed earlier this year, and its foundation will be used for the new project, Ocasio and architects said. This offers several advantages, including limiting the amount of excavation and impact to the ground and ensuring the structure is even for accessibility, they said.

“Meanwhile, a new archives center, the National Boricua Archives and Collections Research Center, is in the works for 2533 W. Division St. and 2537 W. Division St. after being approved by City Council in June. The museum aims to break ground on that in 2026, Ocasio said.

“Through these new spaces, the Puerto Rican museum hopes to expand educational programs, host more visitors, spotlight the “architectural beauty” of its historic stables and “honor the Indigenous people of Illinois,” Ocasio said Tuesday.

“Adding the outdoor space and atrium will enhance the museum and honor ‘the visionary legacy of Jens Jensen,’ an acclaimed landscape architect who once worked in the museum’s stables, Ocasio said.

“‘The Chicago Park District, the board of the museum and all the architects are fully aligned, and we’re eager to unveil enhancements that will enrich our museum and benefit the community,’ Ocasio said. (Yassine, Block Club Chicago, 12/6/24)

Read more at Block Club Chicago

• National Puerto Rican Museum To Build Outdoor Arts Garden, Glass Atrium In 2025; The museum in Humboldt Park is planning to unveil the new spaces for its 25th anniversary in September. The project still needs approval from the city, Leen Yassine, Block Club Chicago, 12/6/24
• Unsanctioned Building Next To Puerto Rican Museum To Be Demolished Next Week; Neighbors and preservationists have called for the building to be removed since 2022, Ariel Parrella-Aureli, Block Club Chicago, 2/21/24
• Demolition Begins on Illegal Building in Humboldt Park, Patty Wetli, WTTW Chicago, 3/4/24
• Illegal Building in Humboldt Park Will Be Demolished, Museum Leader Apologizes for ‘Missteps’; Patty Wetli, WTTW Chicago, 10/4/23
• Puerto Rican museum in Humboldt Park to tear down archives building amid complaints, lawsuit and find new site, Rebecca Johnson, Chicago Tribune, 10/5/23
• Puerto Rican Museum Addition To Be Torn Down, Rebuilt On Division Street’s Paseo Boricua Corridor; Plans for the new archives facility, announced Tuesday at a community meeting in Humboldt Park, come more than a year after unsanctioned construction of the project began, Jacqueline Cardenas, Block Club Chicago, 10/4/23
• Puerto Rican museum archives center to be razed; New archives center will be replaced, residents applaud, TRD Staff, The Read Deal, 10/6/23
• Illegal Building Still Standing in Humboldt Park. Community Meeting Scheduled To Discuss Its Future, Patty Wetli, WTTW Chicago, 9/26/23
• City Sues Puerto Rican Museum, Park District Over Unsanctioned Expansion In Humboldt Park; The city stopped construction on the unauthorized cinder block building in September. Now, officials want it torn down and the museum fined $1,000 for each day the project violated city law, Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 8/16/23
• Humboldt Park Stables Statement of Facts and FOIA Documents published on Preservation Chicago website
• Puerto Rican Museum Project Led By Former Alderman Blasted In New Report: ‘Every Process Was Ignored, Violated Or Skirted’; The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture, led by former Humboldt Park Ald. Billy Ocasio, misrepresented the scope of its work and lied on a permit application, the report found. Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 2/23/23
• Paper Trail Shows Illegal Museum Construction in Humboldt Park Violated Rules at Every Turn, Patty Wetli, WTTW Chicago, 2/17/23
• Go back to square one on Humboldt Park building that was under construction without approval, No work should resume on the structure until all stakeholders have had a chance to examine construction plans, Chicago Sun-Times Editorial Board, 2/14/23
• No walk in the park; What to do about a half-built intrusion on a landmark? Deanna Isaacs, Chicago Reader, 1/11/23
• Humboldt Parkers Want City To Tear Down Unauthorized Building Next To Landmarked Museum; Neighbors say the partially built National Puerto Rican Museum of Arts & Culture project blocks views of one of the area’s oldest-surviving buildings, Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 11/11/22
• City Halts Work On Puerto Rican Museum Project Next To Humboldt Park Landmark; Neighbors and preservationists questioned how the museum was allowed to build a rectangular, cinder-block structure next to the historical receptory and stables, Mina Bloom, Block Club Chicago, 10/12/22
• Humboldt Park Receptory Building and Stable Chicago Landmark Designation Report, 6/7/07