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LINCOLN PARK CONSERVATORY

Architect: Joseph Lyman Silsbee in collaboration with architect M.E. Bell

The conservatory was constructed in phases between 1890 and 1895.

Location: 2391 North Stockton Drive just south of Fullerton Avenue, west of Lake Shore Drive, Chicago.

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HISTORY 

In the early nineteenth century, the development of iron and glass building technology led to the constructions of conservatories in major cities in the United States as well as other countries in the world. Chicago had become overcrowded as its population had increased rapidly. With a growing concern about the ill effect of industrialization, interest in collecting and classifying plant life became very popular. The city leaders decided to build a new and more substantial conservatory to replace a small greenhouse built in the 1870s.  

The Lincoln Park Conservatory was built between 1890 and 1895 by Lincoln Park’s Commission. The Linclon Park Commission established a greenhouse at the Lincoln Park site in 1877 and planted an adjacent formal garden in 1880.  Due to the fascination of horticulture among the city dwellers, Lincoln Park’s small greenhouse was no longer sufficient for all the plants. Large conservatories with different plants and exhibit rooms were gaining popularity. Nationally renowned architect Joseph Lyman Silsbee designed the Victorian conservatory in collaboration with another Chicago architect, Mifflin E. Bell. Between 1890 and 1895 they created a glass building that would support “a luxuriant tropical growth, blending the whole into a natural grouping of Nature’s loveliest forms”. Silsbee gave the conservatory an exotic form by creating a series of trusses in the shape of ogee arches. The exotic-style glass conservatory was described as “a paradise under glass”. Originally, the aquatic plants were placed in a heated pond outside. They were later moved into tanks inside the conservatory. 

The Lincoln Park Conservatory underwent major alterations in 1925. The original terrace and the front vestibule were removed and the entryway’s original gabled roof was replaced with the bell-shaped roof that exists today. A new and expanded lobby space was constructed. The front of the conservatory was altered and expanded again in 1954 to provide public washrooms and create a solid entryway vestibule.

(Source – wikipedia)

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DISPLAY HOUSES

The conservatory contains four rooms displaying exotic plants from around the world.

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Palm House

Fern Room

Orchid House and

Show House

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PALM HOUSE

The Palm House were built and opened to the public in 1892 and contain giant palms and rubber trees. The Palm House, has a display of more than twelve different types of palms. The most unusual palms include Dwarf Sugar, Bottle, Fiji Fan, and Everglade palms. Some of the most recognized palms include the pygmy date plan and the coconut palm due to its fruit. Furthermore, this large house also includes plants that produce food: banana plants, a grapefruit tree, orange trees, papaya plants, a coffee tree, and a cacao tree, among others. The Palm House contains Garden Figure by Frederick Hibbard.

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FERM ROOM

The Fern Room or Fernery was opened in 1895. It contains plants of the forest floor, primarily a vast collection of ferns and one of the most historical plants, the cycads. Fossils of these plants date back at least 250 million years. These plants are similar to conifers and the ginkgo tree rather than palm trees

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ORCHID HOUSE

Orchid Room and has a huge collection of approximately natural species. This room contains hundreds of orchids, bromeliads and a few tropical carnivorous plants. Orchids, just like bromeliads, get their water from the humidity in the room

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SHOW HOUSE

The Display House or The Show House is used for seasonal flower exhibits.  It features the “Spring Flower Show”, “Tropical Summer Show” and also the “Winter Flow and Train Show”.

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I have the pleasure of meeting with Steven B. Meyer, Horticulturalist at the Chicago Park District for 20 years (1998-2019).  He oversaw the production and installation of plant material for the Great Garden and the Conservatory at Lincoln Park.  He also assisted in the planning and planting of the renovation of Garfield Park Conservatory’s Palm House, Lily Pool, Children’s Garden and Sugar from the Sun display house.

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One of my favourite places in the Conservatory if the Orchid House. 

Below is a Photo Gallery from the Orchid House at the Lincoln park Conservatory

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NEARBY GARDENS

Conifer Garden

The Great Garden – A French-style formal garden

Grandmother’s Garden  – An English-style garden

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool – A Prairie-style garden

Nature Boardwalk – An urban eco-system

 

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CONIFER GARDEN

The Lincoln Park Conservatory is enwrapped by Conifer Garden composed of over 150 coniferous trees and shrubs.

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THE GREAT GARDEN – A French-style formal garden

The conservatory’s main entrance faces south, opening into an lawn ornamented with geometric flower beds. The lawn contains Eli Bates Fountain, installed in 1887 and, further south, the Johann Christoph Friedrich Von Schiller Monument, installed in 1886. The Bates Fountain – with sculptures of storks, reeds, boys, and fish frolicking in a pool – was designed by Augustus Saint-Gaudens and Frederick William MacMonnies in a basin by McKim, Mead & White. The Von Schiller Monument, a replica produced by William Pelargus, is surrounded by a circular path that branches easterly to the Lincoln Park Zoo.

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GRANDMOTHER’S GARDEN – An Eglish-style garden

To the west of the conservatory is the Grandmother’s garden, comprising a central lawn and curvilinear planted areas filled with layers of perennials.

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ALFRED CALDWELL LILY POOL – A Prairie-style garden

To the northwest of the conservatory lies Alfred Caldwell’s Lily Pool,  a Prairie-style landscape designed by Alfrted Caldwell in 1930s

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NEARBY ATTRACTIONS

Lincoln Park – The Great Garden… click here..

Eli Bates Fountain… click here..

Schiller Monument.. click here…

Grandmother’s Garden… click here…

Shakespeare Monument… click here..

Nature Boardwalk… click here…

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool… click here…

 

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