Men’s and Ladies’ Comfort Station: 2019 North Stockton

Located in Lincoln Park on the city’s north lakefront, this building is an excellent and unusual surviving example of Chicago park architecture. Built in 1888 and designed by important architect Joseph L. Silsbee, the comfort station draws from the tradition of Victorian-era picturesque architecture. The Lincoln Park Zoo undertook the renovation of the building, and the project was funded in part with a Save America’s Treasures grant administered by the National Park Service, with additional funding from the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, State Representative Sara Feigenholtz, the Tawani Foundation, and the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation. The project included an extensive exterior and interior rehabilitation, with masonry cleaning, new roofing, new doors, and window restoration. The building is used by the volunteer gardeners of the Lincoln Park Zoo. The Men’s and Ladies’ Comfort Station was designated a Chicago Landmark on February 5, 2003.