Historic Garfield Park Conservatory Closed Indefinitely, Damaged By Hail

As Chicago continues to recover from Thursday night's unprecedented, decidedly freaky hail storm, the Garfield Park Conservatory closed Friday after roughly half of the glass roof of the facility's many greenhouses was shattered in the storm.

A Chicago Park District spokeswoman told the Chicago Sun-Times the greenhouses' broken glass is the most damage the historic West Side building, located at 300 N. Central Park, has ever sustained. And while a specific dollar amount has yet to be put on the repairs needed, the district is concerned that they may not have the funds to complete such a project in the immediate future. In the mean time, the conservatory will remain closed.

“We may have to ask for donations to get this reopened again,” Zvezdana Kubat of the park district told the Sun-Times.

"The pathways, ponds and plants in the Fern Room, Show House, Desert House and propagation houses are covered with broken glass, and shards of glass hang dangerously from the roofs," reads the conservatory's website description of the damage. "Until the roofs are repaired, rain will cause the ponds to overflow, and direct sunlight will destroy and kill the plants that have been so carefully and lovingly conserved for so many years."

As for any weddings or special events slated to be held in the conservatory, which opened in 1908, those events are expected to proceed as scheduled, though likely in alternative spaces within the building. The conservatory is one of the largest in the country and was named to the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.

Hail as large as golf balls, in some parts of the city, poured down on Chicago beginning just after 9 p.m. on Thursday. Among the many cars damaged in the storm were dozens of Chicago Police Department squad cars that had been parked in the Ogden and Harrison Districts. The storm also knocked out power until at least midnight for over 100,000 ComEd customers and stranded overnight Metra train riders for several hours after a tree fell on the line's tracks, according to NBC Chicago.

Comments

[murphy66]

04:04 PM on 07/04/2011

so why did trib tv news run a story that the conservatory was open, repaired and OK?

[homeroid2]

08:16 PM on 07/03/2011

The city cares about plants more than money for the needy....Rahm

[Myshkin57]

03:42 PM on 07/03/2011

I have to wonder why a glass-roofed building doesn't have insurance for just this sort of thing. That seems like they first thing the city should have thought of.

[Bzakey3]

09:01 AM on 07/04/2011

I expect they probably do have insurance, but with the usual caveat that 'acts of God will not be covered' - which will get the insurers out of this one. If it was some yobbo throwing rocks, they'd probably be covered.

Perhaps instead, they should argue that it was not caused by God, but manmade global warming, and therefore send the bill to all the industrialized nations to split between them in order to assuage their guilt.

[robodawa]

11:29 AM on 07/02/2011

The GPC is a gem. If people do not have funds to donate, is the GPC accepting help from
volunteers? If so, who to call and when?

[bowloforanges]

01:06 AM on 07/02/2011

The Garfield Park Conservatory sustained catastrophic damage in last night’s hailstorm, shattering approximately half of the glass panes in the roofs of the historic Fern Room, Show House, and nine propagation greenhouses. The glass panes in the Desert House also sustained significant damage. The pathways, ponds and plants in the Fern Room, Show House, Desert House and propagation houses are covered with broken glass, and shards of glass hang dangerously from the roofs. Until the roofs are repaired, rain will cause the ponds to overflow, and direct sunlight will destroy and kill the plants that have been so carefully and lovingly conserved for so many years. They are facing an unprecedented clean-up and repair of the display houses. They need your help like never before. Please give what you can to preserve this wonderful institution. Any amount you give will help tremendously. Please visit the website and choose an amount to donate now, or call Sheila Quinn at 773-638-1766 x.13 if you would like to donate an amount not listed at the site.

http://www.garfield-conservatory.org/donate_online.htm

[ritgar]

02:39 AM on 07/04/2011

Hopefully they will take this as an opportunity to replace the glass with shatterproof or even plastic panes.

[moutonnoir]

11:40 PM on 07/01/2011

wow.. reading other articles it sounds like this is actually really sad.

gardening the beautiful beds will be less peaceful when they are still watching for glass shards 10 years from now...

[feed the enemy]

08:58 PM on 07/01/2011

Very sad - I love that place.

[VOTER]

10:21 AM on 07/03/2011

X2

[zigzag1]

06:28 PM on 07/01/2011

Sorry to hear about a place that holds fond memories for me. Lived in IL for 40 years and loved to go there. Sure hope it is possible to repair and restore.