The renewal of an historic property celebrates a vibrant horticultural tradition and enhances the visitor experience
Cantigny Park Garden and Landscape Improvements
The rehabilitated display gardens include new annual displays (left), the White Garden (center) and Rose Garden (right)
Cantigny Park is a 140-acre park located in Wheaton, Illinois. In 2016, Cantigny initiated a five-year revitalization effort to enhance almost every area of the park. Sasaki lead the park’s redesign, creating a public garden destination that honors its historic legacy and celebrates a rich horticultural practice.
The new Oak Colonnade serves as a major civic-scale threshold at the entrance to Cantigny’s gardens
The 2015 master plan for Cantigny strengthens the connection between the institution’s mission and its physical environment by addressing garden restoration, visitor wayfinding, visitor experience, and revenue enhancement
The rehabilitation of the historic 1960’s era Display Gardens focused on improving the clarity of the gardens, the transition spaces between them, and the overall visitor experience. Image courtesy of Cantigny.
Cantigny was the summer home of Joseph Medill, founder of the Chicago Tribune, and later the home of his grandson Robert R. McCormick, editor and publisher of the Tribune during the 1920s through 1940s. When McCormick died in 1955, his will established the Robert R. McCormick Charitable Trust and designated Cantigny as a park for public education and recreation. The park opened in 1958, and today, it welcomes more than 300,000 visitors each year. Cantigny is part of the Robert R. McCormick Foundation and is home to the Robert R. McCormick House Museum, the First Division Museum, extensive gardens, and Cantigny Golf.
The rehabilitated Display Gardens are a popular all-season attraction curated by Cantigny’s dedicated horticulture staff. The annual flower displays in the Lower Display Garden are refreshed multiple times a year.
In 2018, after three years of planning and design, the park opened more than 20 acres of new and renovated gardens and landscapes, representing the most significant renewal of the property since the gardens were designed in the 1960s and 70s. The work included:
- New arrival facilities, including the Arrival Pavilion, renovations to the existing Visitors Center, and a grand civic-scale Colonnade composed of multiple species of native oaks spanning over 1,200 feet
- A redefined and upgraded pedestrian path system providing universal access and new shuttle and service paths
- The Rose Garden
- The Perennial Border, featuring native Illinois grasses and wildflowers
- Renovated Upper and Lower Display Gardens, including the White Garden, Pollinator Garden, native prairie grass displays, and colorful annual display beds
- The Pond Garden
- Constructed wetland natural areas, as part of a comprehensive property stormwater management strategy
- Expanded picnic facilities
- The Red Oak Farm children’s play area
The new Pond Garden features native plants and encourages visitors to explore the landscape. It also serves as the park’s major stormwater detention facility
Fall foliage at the Pond Garden
The west façade of the McCormick House is prominent from the Pond Garden
The new Pond Garden features native plants and encourages visitors to explore the landscape. It also serves as the park’s major stormwater detention facility
Fall foliage at the Pond Garden
The west façade of the McCormick House is prominent from the Pond Garden
At the southern entrances to the Display Gardens (top) is a 250-foot long Perennial Border arranged to bloom in the order of the color spectrum
The Display Gardens feature a 240-foot long system of trellis structures that shade visitors as they pass through in the adjacent beds of annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses
The White Garden will eventually become an enclosed garden room as the white-blooming Mandevillas and Roses climb the new trellis structures
The rehabilitated Lower Display Garden provides a venue for vibrant seasonal flower displays. The annual plantings are refreshed up to three times each year, while the overall planting pattern changes annually
The rehabilitated Upper Display Garden provides an array of textures and colors comprised of annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses framed by evergreen hedges
The new Rose Garden was built to emphasize the historic mosaic pebble-style pathways that were designed and constructed with the original gardens in the 1960s. Some of the paths were rehabilitated, while others are new to compliment the original paths
The rehabilitated Lower Display Garden provides a venue for vibrant seasonal flower displays. The annual plantings are refreshed up to three times each year, while the overall planting pattern changes annually
The rehabilitated Upper Display Garden provides an array of textures and colors comprised of annuals, perennials, and ornamental grasses framed by evergreen hedges
The new Rose Garden was built to emphasize the historic mosaic pebble-style pathways that were designed and constructed with the original gardens in the 1960s. Some of the paths were rehabilitated, while others are new to compliment the original paths
The Rose Garden was designed around a striking existing Bur Oak (Quercus macrocarpa) to provide a focal point in the new garden
The late summer delicate seedheads of Sporobolus and Sesselaria create a complimentary texture against an evergreen hedge backdrop at the Perennial Border
The rehabilitated and expanded Hosta Garden is an American Hosta Society National Hosta Display Garden. It is curated by the Northern Illinois Hosta Society to expand public knowledge of Hostas.
The new Red Oak Farm playground was designed in collaboration with Daniel’s Wood Land, a California-based company that provides unique and innovative playground experiences across the country
Phase 1 included major improvements to Cantigny’s visitor arrival experience. The new Oak Colonnade connects the Visitors Center with the gardens and First Division Museum, highlighted with a new arrival plaza for events and informal gatherings.
The Oak Colonnade serves as a major civic event space, aligning the visitor arrival experience with the park’s institutional purpose to provide exceptional opportunities for learning, recreation, and civic engagement
The new landscape setting for the Visitors Center (formerly the estate’s stable) clarifies visitor wayfinding
The new Red Oak Farm playground was designed in collaboration with Daniel’s Wood Land, a California-based company that provides unique and innovative playground experiences across the country
Phase 1 included major improvements to Cantigny’s visitor arrival experience. The new Oak Colonnade connects the Visitors Center with the gardens and First Division Museum, highlighted with a new arrival plaza for events and informal gatherings.
The Oak Colonnade serves as a major civic event space, aligning the visitor arrival experience with the park’s institutional purpose to provide exceptional opportunities for learning, recreation, and civic engagement
The new landscape setting for the Visitors Center (formerly the estate’s stable) clarifies visitor wayfinding
The Arrival Pavilion along the Oak Colonnade functions as a portal into the gardens. The building was designed in the spirit of the Prairie School architecture.
The leaf-shaped plant beds in the new Oak Colonnade were designed to deliver the vibrant seasonal color displays for which Cantigny is known
The Oak Colonnade includes multiple oak species of similar mature form and character, including Swamp White Oak (Quercus bicolor), Scarlet Oak (Quercus coccinea), Northern Pin Oak (Quercus ellipsodalis), Chinkapin Oak (Quercus muehlenbergii), and Red Oak (Quercus rubra)
Phase 2 included the rehabilitation and expansion of many of the core gardens between the park’s Visitors Center and Education Center. Cantigny is now completed with its Phase 3 garden and landscape improvements, followed by the renovation of McCormick House.
A vision for a rehabilitated Octagon Garden as part of Phase 2. Image courtesy of Cantigny.
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