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pic by : Brook Collins / Chicago Park District .
Alfred Caldwell quietly created landscapes rivaling those of his famous mentor Jens Jensen . Now , one of Caldwell ’s bright works officially ranks among the adept , on a short listing that include Jensen ’s Columbus Park in Chicago . The Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool at Chicago ’s Lincoln Park has been named a National Historic Landmark , induce it one of few than 50 landscapes to get the Carry Amelia Moore Nation ’s high honor for historic dimension .
design in the 1930s as a refuge from what Caldwell called Megalopolis , the lily puddle was intended to evoke a Midwestern prairie river and include stonework , a marquee , waterfall , council ring and aboriginal planting ( Caldwell bribe the wildflowers by cash his life insurance policy ) . lamentably , in subsequent days it come down into ruination . Though a 1993 restoration stalled , at the routine of the hundred the garden undergo an exhaustive $ 2.5 million effort led by Chicago Park District and Lincoln Park Conservancy .
Caldwell , who give out in 1998 at years 95 , was a prolific landscape painting and geomorphological designer , instructor , lecturer , artist , philosopher and poet . He never accomplish during his long life the acclaim many say he deserved , although scholarship recognized him as the last great clothes designer of the 20th century ’s Prairie School . “ The lily pool is so fantastically beautiful , ” says Julia Sniderman Bachrach , Chicago Park District historiographer . “ It is one of the few sites where you could see Caldwell ’s theme in full implemented . ”
Charles Birnbaum , laminitis of The Cultural Landscape Foundation , says part of the reason why so few of the nearly 2,900 interior historic landmarks are landscapes is that the 1966 National Historic Preservation Act did not focus on outdoor spaces . Not until 1989 did the National Register of Historic Places release guidelines for these types of sites . “ For many of these landscapes , it ’s publish or perish , ” Birnbaum sound out . gratefully a 1997 Caldwell book edited by Dennis Domer ( Alfred Caldwell : The Life and Times of a Prairie School Landscape Architect , The Johns Hopkins University Press ) brought the designer ’s genius and his Lily Pool to public attention .
The Lily Pool is open daily ; free guided enlistment are held Fridays and weekends , late April through October . For more information visitChicago Parks District
