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THE GREAT GARDEN at LINCOLN PARK

One of Chicago’s oldest existing gardens

Designed and planted in the late 1870s

Location: 2391 North Stockton Drive, Chicago, IL 60614

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FORMAL GARDEN

The marker in the Formal Garden reads …
One of Chicago’s oldest existing gardens, Lincoln Park’s Formal Garden was designed and planted in the late 1870s. It was one of several landscape improvements made when the park was expanded from its original sixty acres to new boundaries between Diversey Pkwy. and North Ave. [Today, the park stretches from Ardmore St. to Ohio St.] The garden originally surrounded the park’s first greenhouse, which dated to the same period. Flowers propagated in the greenhouse were planted in the garden. The formal design of this “French style” garden was considered especially appropriate as the setting of a horticultural facility. The garden remained after the greenhouse was demolished in 1890 and replaced with the impressive Victorian conservatory, which still stands today.

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FRENCH STYLE GARDEN VERSUS ENGLISH STYLE GARDEN

The Lincoln Park Formal Garden is a French style garden.  It is noteworthy that this is adjacent to the historic Grandmother’s Garden, an English style cottage garden located just across the road.

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So what is French style garden and what is English style garden?

FRENCH STYLE gardening emphasizes ssymmetry, geometric shape and a limited color palette. Traditional French gardens are known from their cool color palette, which includes greens, whites, purples, pinks, blues and mauve. These gardens have neatly plantled garden beds and planters.

The formal French style gardening emerged in the 17th century as the principal style of gardening in Europe. English style gardening emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe replacing the formal, symmetrical French stylke garden. 

ENGLISH STYLE gardening was pioneered by William Kent and others.  The “informal” garden style originated as a revolt against the architectural garden. It uses informal style, traditional materials, dense planting and a mixture of ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than gradeur and formal structure. 

As compared to the formal French gardens, English gardens aare less formal, less labor-intensive and less expensive to maintain.

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Coming back to the Lincoln Park Formal Garden

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MONUMENT and FOUNTAIN at THE GREAT GARDEN

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This formal garden been the setting for important works of sculpture since its early history. The Monument to Johann Christoph Friedrich Schiller, “prince of poets” was commissioned by a group of Chicagoans of German descent and dedicated in 1886.  An exact replica of a sculpture erected ten years earlier in Schiller’s birthplace in Germany, this work is considered a masterpiece of its sculptor Ernst Rau.

In 1887 a second sculpture Storkes at Play, also known as the Bates Fountain was placed in the garden. A gift of lumber baron Eli Bates, the fountain sculptures were created by the renowned artist Augustus Siant-Gaudens and his assistant Frederick William MacMonnies.

The garden’s third sculpture is more recent. Decicated in 1987, the bust of Sir Georg Solti was sculpted by Dame Elizabeth Frink and honors the late Maestro of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

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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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OTHER ATTRACTIONS

Schiller Monument… click here…

Eli Bates Fountain… click here…

Bust of Sir George Solti… click here…

Lincoln Park Conservatory.. click here…

Grandmother’s Garden.. click here…

Schakespeare’s Monument… click here…

Nature Boardwalk.. click here…

 

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