Nov 1, 2017

The Harding Museum


The Harding Museum was a great small museum. Our Cub Scout troop visited the museum several times. It was filled with Suits of Armor, antique weapons, and model ships. A childhood delight.

The building was built as a Gothic Revival stone turret, complete with cannonballs embedded in the exterior walls. Harding spent several months each year in Europe, eagerly scouting out new prizes, buying from dealers and sometimes directly from noble families. Soon, his “castle museum” contained armor that had once belonged to Austrian emperors, the royal house of Saxony, the Russian czars, the princes of Liechtenstein and Radziwill, and the English royal family. Following his death in 1939, his museum remained open for several decades, until the castle was demolished during an urban renewal project. 

The museum was moved to a storage warehouse and taken from public view. Extensive litigation followed.  The collection was finally transferred to the Art Institute in 1982, fulfilling Harding’s initial intention to offer the collection to the public of Chicago.


The Legacy of George F. Harding, Jr. | The Art Institute of Chicago

www.artic.edu › ... › Exhibition Themes

In the first few decades of the 20th century, George F. Harding Jr., a colorful figure in ... Soon, his “castle museum” contained armor that had once belonged to ...

A Lost Castle in Kenwood? Residents Wonder if Remnants Buried ...

https://www.dnainfo.com/.../lost-castle-kenwood-residents-wonder-if-remnants-buried...

Nov 24, 2014 - “I think it is likely since the Harding museum was built to look like a castle,” said neighborhood resident Sam Guard, kicking away hedge apples ...

State Settles Legal Dispute Over Harding Museum Assets ...

articles.chicagotribune.com/1989-08.../8901010826_1_art-institute-collection-armor

Aug 3, 1989 - His collection made an awe-inspiring display popular with both adults and children in the museum Harding established in a simulatedcastle at ...

Lost Treasures - tribunedigital-chicagotribune

articles.chicagotribune.com/1993-06.../9306070104_1_armor-collection-art-institute

Jun 6, 1993 - Harding Museum Has Been Reduced To Pieces And Memories ... visiting the George F. Harding Museum, a spooky old castle on Lake Park ...

KNIGHTS OF OLD STILL AS BOLD IN HARDING CASTLE

archives.chicagotribune.com/1949/03/.../knights-of-old-still-as-bold-in-harding-castle

KNIGHTS OF OLD STILL AS BOLD IN HARDING CASTLE. Private MuseumFamed. for Armor. (Siiecnth in a about AIaces of unique interest, beauty, and ...

Mapping the Lost Mansions of Chicago's Gilded Age - John Harding ...

chicago.curbed.com/maps/chicago-lost-mansions-map/john-harding-castle

Nov 19, 2015 - The home of John Harding, Jr., known for years as the JohnHarding Castle, was originally built for one Brenton R. Wells, a boot and shoe ...

Window on the West: Chicago and the Art of the New Frontier, 1890-1940

https://books.google.com/books?isbn=0865591997
Judith A. Barter - 2003 - ‎Art
View of George F. Harding's Castle, 4853 South Lake Park Avenue, Chicago ... dangling the collection in front of the museum for a decade or more,Harding ...

PHOTO – CHICAGO – GEORGE F HARDING MUSEUM – LAKE PARK ...

https://chuckmanchicagonostalgia.wordpress.com/.../photo-chicago-george-f-harding-...

Apr 24, 2011 - PHOTO – CHICAGO – GEORGE F HARDING MUSEUM – LAKE PARK ... AVE - CASTLE-LIKE ADDITION TO ORIGINAL HARDING HOME - AS ...

Harding Playground Park | Chicago Park District

www.chicagoparkdistrict.com/parks/Harding-Playground-Park/

An avid collector of art, armor, and weapons, Harding built a castle-likemuseum on his property at 49th and Lake Park Avenue. Between the 1964 demolition of ...

Of Blood and Iron: The George F. Harding Collection of Arms and ...

badatsports.com › Blog

Nov 5, 2012 - Of Blood and Iron: The George F. Harding Collection of Arms and Armor at ... and we must have gone to the art museum; I remember a seeing, just in ... The castle was torn down in 1964 as part of an urban renewal project, ...


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