| Dates: | circa 1897-2003 (bulk 1910-1930) |
| Size: | 1 linear foot in 2 boxes and 1 oversize folder |
| Repository: | Chicago Public Library, Harold Washington Library Center, Special Collections, 400 S. State Street, Chicago, IL 60605 |
| Collection Number: | spe.c00070 |
| Immediate Source of Acquistion: | The collection was donated in 2016 by Sandra Altman and her brother Steve Campbell, great grandchildren of Clarence Hatzfeld. The material had largely been collected by their grandmother Beatrice, daughter of Clarence Hatzfeld. |
| Conditions Governing Access: | Materials are open without restrictions. Materials are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use. Please request materials at least 24-hours prior to your research visit to coordinate access. |
| Conditions Governing Use: | Please consult staff to determine ability to reuse materials from collection. |
| Preferred Citation: | When quoting material from this collection the preferred citation is: Clarence Hatzfeld Papers, [Box#, Folder#], Special Collections, Chicago Public Library. |
| Finding aid author: | Johanna Russ, 2017. Updated and ingested into ArchivesSpace by Johanna Russ, 2021. |
Abstract
This collection documents the life and work of Chicago-based architect Clarence Hatzfeld. It includes personal correspondence and photographs of Hatzfeld’s family, as well as photographs, renderings, architectural drawings, newspaper and magazine clippings and promotional brochures that cover his professional work.
Biographical/Historical
Clarence Hatzfeld was born in 1873 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His family moved to Chicago around 1880, and his father, Richard Hatzfeld became a successful businessman who owned drug stores around the city. Clarence studied architecture in Chicago and around 1899 became partners with Julius Huber. Beginning in the mid-1890s, Hatzfeld was a member of the Chicago Architectural Club where he met and exchanged ideas with a number of important architects working in the city.
In 1896, Hatzfeld married Laurette [Laura] Haentze. They had a daughter, Beatrice, in 1902. In 1918, they divorced, and Laura and Beatrice moved to California.
In 1901, Hatzfeld went to work for the Chicago Board of Education where he worked under such renowned architects as William B. Mundie and Dwight H. Perkins. While working for the Board of Education, Hatzfeld also opened his own private practice in 1902. In 1910, he resigned from the Board of Education and went into practice with colleague Arthur Knox, forming Hatzfeld & Knox, which operated for about five years. Hatzfeld continued on his own for about 25 years.
Hatzfeld designed a wide variety of buildings, beginning with residences. With commissions from his father- and brother-in-law who developed real estate, Hatzfeld designed approximately 20 homes for the Villa neighborhood in northwest Chicago. Hatzfeld also designed over two dozen park fieldhouses, beginning with Independence Park. Masonic temples also became a Hatzfeld specialty. He designed other businesses and apartment buildings, as well.
By the mid-1930s, the Great Depression took its toll, and Hatzfeld closed his private office and went to work directly for the Chicago Park District, managing a number of fieldhouses, including some he had designed. In 1939, mandatory retirement forced him to leave Chicago and take a job for the Federal Works Administration in Washington, D.C. It appears that in this capacity he did some work on the campus of Southern Illinois University in Carbondale. Clarence Hatzfeld died in 1943.
Scope and Contents
This collection documents the life and work of Chicago-based architect Clarence Hatzfeld. It includes personal correspondence and photographs of Hatzfeld’s family, as well as photographs, renderings, architectural drawings, newspaper and magazine clippings and promotional brochures that cover his professional work.
Arrangement
The collection is divided into two series: Series 1: Personal Information, 1900-1986, undated and Series 2: Architectural Projects, 1897-2003, undated.
Subject Headings
- Architects—Illinois—Chicago
- Field houses—Illinois—Chicago
- Masonic buildings
- Parks--Illinois--Chicago
Related Materials
- Chicago Park District Records: Drawings
- Chicago Park District Records: Photographs
- Neighborhood History Research Collection
Collection Inventory
Series 1: Personal Information, 1900-1986, undated
Scope and Contents
This series includes correspondence and photographs of Clarence Hatzfeld and his family members, especially his father Richard and daughter Beatrice. Of note is a small diary he used to write a long letter to his daughter, Bea, after he and his wife divorced and his daughter had moved with her mother to California.
Arrangement
Items are arranged alphabetically and by format.
| Box 1 | Folder 1 | Correspondence, newspaper clippings, certificates, 1901-1986 |
| Box 1 | Folder 2 | Family photographs, circa 1900-1924, undated |
| Box 2 | Certificate, 1911 | |
| Box 2 | Diary to daughter Bea, 1926 | |
| Box 2 | Framed display including photographs, clippings, cased photographs, and drawing pens, undated |
Series 2: Architectural Projects, 1897-2003, undated
Scope and Contents
Included here are photographs, renderings, architectural drawings, newspaper and magazine clippings, and promotional brochures on buildings Hatzfeld worked on in the Chicagoland area.
Arrangement
This series is arranged alphabetically by type of building (Banks, Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks, Fraternal Order Temples, Residences, and Other buildings), and alphabetically by name or area within.
| Box 1 | Folder 3 | Banks - Albany Park National Bank, 1920, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 4 | Banks - Diversey Trust and Savings Bank, 1166 W. Diversey Parkway, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 5 | Banks - East Side Trust and Savings Bank, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 6 | Banks - Immel State Bank (in 2017, Michelle’s Ball Room), 2800 W. Belmont Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 7 | Banks - Irving Park National Bank, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 8 | Banks - Jefferson Park National Bank, 4786 N. Milwaukee Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 9 | Banks - Mayfair State Bank, 1926, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 10 | Banks - Norwood Park Trust and Savings, 1924 |
| Box 1 | Folder 11 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Athletic Field Park, 3546 W. Addison Street [See also clipping in Kilbourn Park, Box 1, Folder 22], undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 12 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Avondale Park, 3516 W. School Street, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 13 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Brands Park, 3285 N. Elston Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 14 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Eugene Field Park, 5100 N. Ridgeway Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 15 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Garfield Park – Gold Dome Rotunda Art Museum Rehabilitation, 100 N. Central Park Drive, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 16 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Gladstone Park, 5421 N. Menard Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 17 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Gompers Park, 4222 W. Foster Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 18 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Green Briar Park, 2650 W. Peterson Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 19 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Independence Park, 3945 N. Springfield Avenue, circa 1913 |
| Box 1 | Folder 20 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Indian Boundary Park, 2500 W. Lunt Avenue, circa 1929 |
| Box 1 | Folder 21 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Jefferson Park, 4822 N. Long Avenue, 1930 |
| Box 1 | Folder 22 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Kilbourn Park, 3501 N. Kilbourn Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 23 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Mayfair Park, 4550 W. Sunnyside Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 24 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Paul Revere Park, 2509 W. Irving Park Road, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 25 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Portage Park, 4100 N. Long Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 26 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - River Park, 5100 N. Francisco Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 27 | Chicago Park District Fieldhouses and Parks - Rosedale Park, 6312 W. Rosedale Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 28 | Fraternal Order Temples - Des Plaines Masonic Temple, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 29 | Fraternal Order Temples - Lawndale Masonic Temple, 3631 W. 23rd Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 30 | Fraternal Order Temples - Logan Square Masonic Temple (in 2017 Armitage Baptist Church), 2451 N. Kedzie Avenue, 1921, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 31 | Fraternal Order Temples - Metropolitan Masonic Temple, 3949 W. Wilcox Street, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 32 | Fraternal Order Temples - South Chicago Masonic Temple, 2941 E. 91st Street, 1920, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 33 | Fraternal Order Temples - South Side Masonic Temple, 6410 S. Green Street, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 34 | Fraternal Order Temples - Whiting Masonic Temple, Whiting, Indiana, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 35 | Fraternal Order Temples - Wrights Grove Masonic Temple, W. Addison Street and N. Reta Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 39 | Other buildings - Apartment building, 1157 W. Diversey Parkway. Hatzfeld referred to these types of apartment as having a “powder puff” style, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 40 | Other buildings - Charles Lange and Brothers Company – Buick salesroom, 2467 N. Milwaukee Avenue, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 41 | Other buildings - Charles Lange Brothers and Company Buick, 3162 N. Clark Street, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 42 | Other buildings - The Crawford Library, circa 1897 |
| Box 1 | Folder 43 | Other buildings - Holy Apostles Church, W. Dakin Street, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 44 | Other buildings - Funeral Home (in 2017 the Charnel House), 3421 W. Fullerton Avenue, undated |
| Oversize Folder 1 | Other buildings - Southern Illinois University at Carbondale, Ill. Revised sketch for grounds, circa 1935 | |
| Oversize Folder 1 | Other buildings - Standard Tennis Court Detail, circa 1935 | |
| Box 1 | Folder 45 | Other buildings - Unidentified Hatzfeld buildings, 1925-1927, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 36 | Residences - Dirks Residence, Wilmette, Illinois, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 37 | Residences - Villa neighborhood, Chicago, 1913, 2003, undated |
| Box 1 | Folder 38 | Residences - Wilcox Residence, Edgebrook, Illinois, undated |
