Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool Rehabilitation

Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool Rehabilitation

Chicago, Illinois

Our team led the careful restoration of this historic landscape - the Lily Pool in the Lincoln Park Zoo. This is a 1937 prairie school landscape designed by Alfred Caldwell, a student of Jens Jensen.

Due to deterioration and a 1960's renovation that added stonework and inappropriate modern furnishings, the area eventually became too shady and overgrown to sustain the original plantings. Our renovation plan generated strong support from the Chicago Park District, the surrounding community, and several special interest groups (including historic landscape preservationists, birders and handicap advocates, etc.) interested in this historic site. Our services included schematic design through contract documentation and construction.

Key elements of the plan include selective tree removal, pruning, removal of inappropriate additions (signage, lighting and furnishings), expansion of site boundaries and fencing, expanding bird habitat, handicap accessibility to the council ring, restoration of the Fullerton Avenue gate and pavilion, restoration of plantings, and pond dredging for water quality improvements.