Haskell Playhouse

Haskell Playhouse
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Front and southern side
Location	Henry St. in Haskell Park, Alton, Illinois
Coordinates	38°53′56″N 90°10′33″W / 38.89889°N 90.17583°WCoordinates: 38°53′56″N 90°10′33″W / 38.89889°N 90.17583°W
Area	1 acre (0.40 ha)
Built	1885
Architect	Pfeiffenberger, Lucas
Architectural style	Queen Anne
NRHP Reference #	74000768[1]
Added to NRHP	July 30, 1974

The Haskell Playhouse is a children's playhouse located in Haskell Park in Alton, Illinois. Dr. W. A. Haskell, a physician and one of the wealthiest residents of Alton, commissioned the playhouse as a present for his daughter Lucy's fifth birthday in 1885. Architect Lucas Pfeiffenberger designed the playhouse in the Queen Anne style. The house's design features a raised front porch with a projecting entrance, diagonal stickwork on the porch and first floor, and fishscale shingles on the second-story gable ends. An ornamental iron fence with a small spire tops the house's hipped roof. Lucy Haskell died of diphtheria four years after her playhouse was built, and by 1916 her mother Florence was the only surviving Haskell still living in Alton. Florence demolished the family's home that year but kept the playhouse as a memorial to her daughter; she donated the land to the city to serve as a memorial park.^[2]

The playhouse was added to the National Register of Historic Places on July 30, 1974.^[1]

References

1. National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
2. Means, Ruth; P. H. Poehner. "National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form: Haskell Playhouse" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved February 18, 2014.