National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts & Culture

The National Museum of Puerto Rican Arts and Culture (NMPRAC) features the work of modern Puerto Rican artists in what was once Humboldt Park's 1896 stables building. Built in brick and defined by steep pitched roofs and wooden ornamental details, the stables were intended to resemble the old German Style of country house architecture. In the early 1900s, master landscape architect Jens Jensen, Superintendent of Humboldt Park and, later, Chicago’s West Park System, had his office in the turreted space overlooking the park. Renovation of the building was set back by a 1992 fire, but the building was restored in 1998 by the architectural firm McClier. In 2000, a long advocacy and fundraising campaign began under the leadership of NMPRAC founder and president Billy Ocasio to develop the museum, which opened partially in 2012 and fully in 2014.