HYDE PARK — The DuSable Museum of African American History unveiled Friday a $582,440 new outdoor event space.
Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Chicago Park District Supt. Mike Kelly helped open the 15,000-square-foot plaza, which until Friday was a gravel lot next the musuem's disused Roundhouse building at 740 E. 56th Place.
The city and Park District paid for the renovations so the plaza would be finished in time for the Chicago Architectural Biennial in September, which includes an exhibition space in the Roundhouse by Palais de Tokyo.
“Since its founding in 1961 by Dr. Margaret Burroughs, the DuSable Museum has been a beacon of culture and history for Chicagoans and visitors from around the world,” Emanuel said. “This new outdoor space alongside Daniel Burnham’s Roundhouse building provides a one-of-a-kind destination for celebrations and special occasions on Chicago’s developing south side.”
Construction started in July to install permeable pavers, landscaping, ornamental fencing and to rebuild the stairs to the basement.
“The Chicago Park District is proud to work with the DuSable Museum and to transform a once vacant lot into a mainstay for the south side community,” Kelly said. “The event space at DuSable is an unparalleled venue to celebrate special occasions in Washington Park.”
The space will remain long after the biennial’s events wrap up and is expected to be used by the museum as an additional space for events and fundraisers.
The museum still needs an estimated $35 million to open the Roundhouse expansion, which was stalled by the economic crisis and would double the museum’s size once opened.
The museum’s financing issues were worsened by several of its key fundraisers shifting to focus on Barack Obama’s presidential campaign in 2016, museum staff told WTTW in 2016.
Obama may again be an impediment to getting the Roundhouse opened as Obama’s foundation competes for donations for his own museum planned for the nearby Jackson Park.
