Art in the Park

At the Art Institute of Chicago's Sculpture Garden

Question: What could be better than sh*t-hot sculpture in a beautiful park or garden?

Answer: Not much.

At least not in the humble opinion of your correspondent. And as proof I tender into evidence, Your Honour, Exhibit A, the Sculpture Garden at the Art Institute of Chicago.

There are two gardens at the Art Institute, the one to the south designed by the remarkable landscape architect Dan Kiley, and the one to the north by the equally influential Laurie Olin.

It’s separated from the Art Institute’s be-columned façade by some fruity balustrades and planted urns, a get-up that sits surprisingly comfortably beside its more contemporary neighbour. 

Olin’s sculpture garden was completed in 1960 and it’s a deceptively simple space. A generous path surrounds a central garden, half of which is open lawn, with the other half given over to a lush floral display.

Gorgeous as the plants are, they struggle to compete with the art. Cubi VII is a stainless steel work by David Smith, installed here in 1963.

The showstopper work is Flying Dragon by Alexander Calder. The painted steel sculpture landed amongst the flowers in 1975, and good luck to you if you think you’ll be able to visit without taking about a thousand photos.

Very simple stone benches line two sides, and they’re detailed so you can face into or away from the path.

The north of the garden is a linear space, with trees lining a soft path.

A Henry Moore bronze, Large Interior Form, juts its hip and tips its head at the end of the way.

A tall wall terminates the eastern end, providing a backdrop for Ulrich Ruckriem’s untitled work, a slab of infinitely textured and coloured granite.

The sculpture garden changes character with the weather. An overcast day clears the crowds, leaving the green garden pulsing with chlorophyll in front of the pale Art Institute building and the pale sky.

When the sun comes out so do the people, flocking to the lawn, and seeking out the quiet seats, the sunny spots, and the shade.

It’s a beautiful thing.

Frank Lloyd Wright's Coonley House: Good Things Happen when Architecture, Landscape and Art Get Along

Here in Brisbane there’s no denying that spring is well and truly upon us. The sky is almost unfeasibly blue, creating the kind of days that make me think 'Meh, you can keep New York, coz it ain't got this'. The sun is still invitingly warm, rather than blistering, and there is a general air of, well, perkiness about the place.

There’s an urge at home to throw open the windows and let in the fresh air, or to get out and do things in the garden.

To give you that little extra push in the right direction, and really get your design juices flowing, today we’re got a super-charged dose of architecture, garden design and integrated art.

So without any further ado, welcome to the Avery Coonley House, by two absolute design heavyweights: the building by Frank Lloyd Wright, and the garden by Jens Jensen.

The house dates from 1908, when it was built on a 4-hectare site in Riverside, outside Chicago.

Coonley Road (naturally) in lush, swirling Riverside. The signature flower-filled urn marks the entry to the house.

The estate contained an e-nor-mous main house, an equally impressive bedroom wing, a separate gardener’s cottage and a coach house and stables building. All were designed in Wright’s signature Prairie style, with long, low buildings hunkered down under horizontal roofs, walls reaching out to enclose courtyards and garden spaces, and beautiful details and moments of delight throughout. 

Sadly the Coonley House fell on hard times, and in the 1950s was bought by a developer whose plans for demolition were thwarted in the nick of time.

Following this the property was divided into four separate residences. One was in the coach house:

Approaching the coach house.

Its recreated Jens Jensen garden.

The house sits back from the street, behind richly inviting plantings.

The second house occupied the gardener's cottage; the third, the main house/living wing: 

And the fourth one was in the bedroom wing, which was separated from the main house.

Fast-forward another half a century to 2001, when the main house had the extreme good fortune to be bought by Dean and Ella Mae Eastman. Following a stellar career in physics, largely spent at IBM, and then academia, Dean Eastman threw himself (and a not insignificant amount of his hard-earned cash) into a painstaking restoration of the Coonley House.

Another enveloping garden shields the house, hiding it in plain view.

On the long walk from the street, the house barely hints at its many delights.

The lily pond was restored, having been converted into a swimming pool.

I had the pleasure of visiting the Coonley House a few years ago, and I have to admit it was one of those experiences that you can’t fully take in at the time. We were asked not to photograph inside the house, but if you want to nosy inside, enjoying the restored murals, windows and much more, then check out this short real estate video made at the time the Eastmans were selling up. (They moved right next door, into the coach house!)

Health Warning: if you suffer easily from house envy or architecture envy, it might be best to avoid. I can't watch it without wanting to move in straight away!

But even without peeking inside, I reckon there’s more than enough in the exterior and gardens of the Coonley House to keep you intrigued, delighted and inspired. Enjoy!

How lovely is this garden seat, integrated into the screen and roof structure.

Light play through the overhead trellises.

Frames support climbing plants.

Cast light sconce? Yes, please.

And it's even better up close.

The terrace at the main house overlooks the lily pond.

Exquisitely detailed trellis structure above the main living level.

The low, shady terrace trellis opens up to the landscape beyond.

The upper trellis sits above the terrace outside the main living room. One of Wright's innovations in this house was to raise the living areas above the ground level, exploiting the views out to the wider landscape.

Shadows!

They don't make 'em like this anymore: finials above the main house.

The wonderful textured mural at the entry to the house.

...and up close. It is no understatement to say I love this!

So there you have it: a pocket tour of the wonderful Coonley House. What did you think?

If you enjoyed this story, please feel free to share it with a friend.

Enjoy dipping your toe into spring, and catch you soon for another inspirational landscape.

A Park with Great Ideas for Home Gardens

Most designers, art lovers and recent visitors to Chicago will be familiar with Millennium Park.

A special project of former mayor Richard M. Daley, Millennium Park converted a vast lakefront railyard into a spectacular public parkland. Leading architects, artists and landscape architects including Frank Gehry, Anish Kapoor and Kathryn Gustafson were amongst those involved in bringing Daley’s Millennium Park vision to reality.

Less well known today is Garfield Park. Located in Chicago’s west side, it was opened in 1874, one of three great western parks and pleasure grounds built for this part of the city.

Jens Jensen, acknowledged as the pioneer of prairie-style landscape architecture, (yep, landscape's Frank Lloyd Wright) was superintendent of the western parks system, implementing many significant architectural and landscape projects at Garfield Park.

The focal point of the park is the Conservatory, particularly the ornate and popular Palm Room. One of the largest in the United States, the conservatory encloses over 18,200m2. It's a lovely place to take a turn around, and I can imagine it being quite the destination in its day.

Sadly, a 2011 hailstorm damaged large sections of glass in the display and production greenhouses, and repairs to some parts of the buildings are still underway. 

Behind the conservatory lies a new park.

The City Garden aims to provide additional parkland and green linkages in this park of the city.

The central organizing element is a large lawn. Its elliptical shape is a tip of the hat to a shape that Jens Jensen once used to define spaces within Garfield Park.

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Beginning the journey around the great lawn.

A large landform wraps around one edge of the lawn. From its summit, the dramatic Chicago skyline is visible in the distance.

The lawn tilts up into an encircling landform.

The 442 metre, 108 storey Willis Tower, (the artist formerly known as the Sears Tower) can be seen above the Palm House.

Different plant communities thrive in the varying conditions – shady and protected, sunny and exposed, flat or sloping. They enclose the lawn, frame the Palm House and shield the working conservatories. 

Small paths weave their way through the planting, like streams braiding their way to the lake.

A gravel garden allows you to steps off the paths altogether. Here, the entire ground surface is gravel, interspersed with flecks of blue glass. Plants that tolerate hot, dry environments take centre stage. Oh my hat, don't they look spectacular in the summer sun.

A lily pond, empty for cleaning and maintenance when I visited, is off to the side, and traversed by a bridge.

The bridge continues the curve of the great lawn.

Details on the bridge are repeated elsewhere, particularly those using reinforcing steel as columns to support plants and climbers. I love the way the endcaps on the reo towers almost seem to reference details from Frank Lloyd Wright Midway Gardens, another great Chicago landscape, now sadly lost.

Heading back to the great glass conservatory you pass by a childrens’ garden, rows of tiny plastic shovels at the ready. 

Finally, there is a great bluestone terrace, looking out over the entire landscape.

The big Chicago sky sits above the big green lawn. Yet strolling the City Garden allows the beauty of every individual plant to be experienced up close.

What do you think?

What aspects of the City Garden would you consider using in other parks and gardens? Could the gravel garden be created using crushed recycled concrete instead? Would you consider using the reinforcing cages as sculptural plant supports? And what about the idea of using different types of pathways to encourage different ways of moving through the garden?

I’d love you to leave a comment below letting me know.

If you know someone who’d enjoy reading this article be sure to share it, and check back soon to visit another Great Park.

Garfield Park Conservatory and City Garden is located at 300 North Central Park Avenue,
Chicago. Read more about the park’s history, activities, events, how to get there, and ways to be involved in the conservancy at the Garfield Park Conservatory website.

The City Garden was designed by Hoerr Schaudt.