Right you are, dearest readers, the old postcard used in yesterday's cornerspotter depicted the German Building-turned-beach house at Jackson Park. What German Building? The one built for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, the event that gave birth to Jackson Park as we know it. As most are aware, all but a few of the hastily-erected but magnificent Expo structures burned down in the following year through a series of accidental and malicious acts. The German Building, Iowa Building, Spanish Pavilion, Japanese Temple, and Palace of Fine Arts were survivors. The German Building lived on for another 30 years as a beach house, suffering fatal fire damage 30 years later. The Iowa Building was relocated to this spot at the south end of the beach. The Spanish Pavilion later became the LaRabida Hospital (minus newer structures), and the Palace of Fine Arts is better known today as the Museum of Science and Industry. What a wild ride!
·Hint: A Singular and Celebrated Structure That Went Too Soon [Curbed Chicago]
·Historical Jackson Park and the Fair [Hyde Park.org]
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