Wheaton Girl Scout Cabin Assessment

Wheaton, IL

Wheaton’s Northside Park is home to five unique historic log cabin structures that are defining features of the park. One of these is the Girl Scout Cabin, built in 1938 with the help of Illinois residents hired by the Wheaton Park District through the Works Progress Administration. The cabin has been well-used by the community for decades and now requires rehabilitation to continue hosting summer youth programs and park events.

AltusWorks explored prolonged usability of the Girl Scout Cabin through stabilization and roof replacement versus replacing the cabin with a new log cabin structure of similar size and program. Our team conducted an architectural and structural visual assessment of the cabin in August of 2024, the findings of which were used to update the stabilization recommendations AltusWorks produced for the Park District in 2022. AltusWorks then developed concept design documents for the full replacement of the Girl Scout Cabin with a new log cabin structure in compliance with the 2022 ICC 400 Standard on the Design of Log Structures.