Demolition began Monday on a building in Humboldt Park that was never approved for construction in the first place, the Chicago Park District has announced.

The illegal building, intended as an archive for the neighboring landmarked National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture, has been at the center of controversy since 2022, when it began rising on park grounds with no prior notice to the community.

Objections from neighbors and preservationists ranged from aesthetics incompatible with the museum’s main building — housed in the park’s landmarked Receptory and Stable, which the museum leases from the Chicago Park District  — to the underhanded manner in which the museum skirted Chicago’s permitting process.

The museum did follow permitting procedures for the demolition, according to the Park District.

Teardown of the partially construction building is expected to take two to four days, officials said.

The cinderblock shell of an illegal building in Humboldt Park, obscuring the landmarked Receptory and Stable building, will be demolished. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th Ward) brokered a compromise between the museum and Park District, identifying vacant property on Division Street where the archive could be built.

“The museum deserves an archive center and it deserves one soon,” Fuentes said at a community meeting held in October 2023, emphasizing the importance of the museum’s mission of “showcasing the best of Puerto Rico from our island and our diaspora.”

The solution also included the retention of the foundation slab of the illegal building, for possible use for future programming.

In a statement, the Park District said it looks forward to working with the museum “as they undertake a community engagement process to gather stakeholder input and develop future plans for the park space.”

Contact Patty Wetli: @pattywetli | (773) 509-5623 |  [email protected]