Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― The Chicago Children's Museum hopes a new design will pacify residents who are protesting the museum's planned move to Grant Park.

As CBS 2's Joanie Lum reports, there have been multiple revisions of the building plans to meet the residents' demands. The newest plans place the museum building deeper underground and further reducing the size of the glass atrium.

The Children's Museum wants to build in Grant Park, replacing what is now the Daley Bicentennial Plaza field house.

The latest revision of the plan calls for the Children's Museum to occupy existing space currently occupied by a two-level underground parking garage. The top level would be under a green rooftop which would be accessible to the public, according to the museum.

The skylights in earlier plans would be replaced with windows built into the slope of the park, and the planned all-glass entry atrium would be reduced to 25 percent of its originally planned size. A planned interior courtyard would also be replaced by park terraces.

"The modified design achieves the dual goal of making the park better because of the building and the building better because of the park," said Mark Sexton, principal of Krueck and Sexton, the architect for the project, in a news release from the museum. "It enhances the museum itself while at the same time concealing more of it and topping it with a new gathering space accessible to all."


Ald. Brendan Reilly (42nd) and numerous residents are against the plan. Reilly has pointed out that what later became Grant Park was declared "forever open, clear and free" in 1836, a vision that was upheld by the Illinois Supreme Court at the turn of the last century after department store magnate Montgomery Ward sued to ensure nothing would be built in the park. If the Children's Museum were built, that precedent would be violated.

Additionally, residents who live along Randolph Street say they do not want to lose their peaceful green space.

It appears the latest plan will not change opinions.

"We think this is a transparent action by the Children's Museum to just get the camel's nose under the tent, and once they do get approval, they'll alter their plans," said Peggy Figiel of the group Save Grant Park.

"I'm still totally against the museum," added Kathy Strong, a resident of the area. "I just feel like Grant Park the way it exists is such a beautiful accessory to Millennium Park.

Opponents say even an underground building would violate the 1836 mandate, and they said they would fight the museum in court if necessary.

The dispute has caused a political showdown between Reilly and Mayor Richard M. Daley, who strongly supports the move and has claimed that those who oppose it are motivated by racism directed at the children who would visit.

Also, the woman who once wrote that Grant Park should remain forever open, clear and free now agrees with that position. In a huge reversal, Lois Wille supports the museum's building plans.

"What a terrific way to complete Millennium Park, the synergy of Millennium Park," she said of the plan recently.

The Park District has signed off on plans to move the Children's Museum to Grant Park from Navy Pier, which would cost $100 million. The plan now must go before the City Plan Commission next month, then the full City Council in June.

CBS 2's Joanie Lum contributed to this report.

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