The glorious Alfred Caldwell Lily Pool — one of the city’s finest public gardens — has reopened after a much-needed two-year rehab. And the work comprises the pool’s first significant rehab in 25 years.
It couldn’t come at a better time. As the fall colors slowly creep in, there are few better park spaces in the city to observe the change than this 3-acre beauty spot at 125 W. Fullerton Parkway.
Designed by Alfred Caldwell and built 86 years ago, the park resembles a prairie landscape — the kinds that were lost to “progress” in the 19th century — featuring trees, greenery, assorted flowers, rock formations, a waterfall and a pool.
“It’s really such a beautiful testament and ode to the Midwest landscape,” said Maeve Musgrave Callaghan, manager of park stewardship for the Lincoln Park Conservancy, the nonprofit that oversaw the lily pool’s rehab.
“Tragically, basically the entire state went under the plow, so we have so little of it left. This space and this pool gives you just a little tiny taste of what this region [once] looked like and felt like.”
Located outside of the north edge of Lincoln Park Zoo, what became the Caldwell Lily pool was built in 1889 as a Victorian-styled green space where tropical water lilies were raised.
But in the 1930s, Caldwell, then a Chicago Park District landscape designer, refashioned the area into a naturalist Prairie School-styled urban oasis.
The park is one of the city’s great escapes. Stand on the corner of Fullerton Parkway and Cannon Drive and you’re very much aware of the big city’s hustle and bustle.
However, behind the garden’s big white oak gates, sits a lush and tranquil outdoor place — especially with the rehab work that’s been done.
The most notable change is the restoration of the garden’s pavilion. A design master stroke by Caldwell, the pavilions are made of wood, prairie stone and topped with copper roofs.
And they’ve been a favorite of wedding photographers for years.
“After 25 years of dealing with the Chicago weather’s wear and tear, the pavilion really needed to be refreshed and restored,” Lincoln Park Conservancy Executive Director Rafael Rosa said.
Rosa said his organization thought 50% of the structure’s wood would have to be replaced, but it turned out to be 90%. And of course the work had to be done right. The garden is a city landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places and the even more elite National Historic Landmark rolls.
“We had to use the same [original construction] techniques, the same type of wood — and so it meant you’re getting a carpenter who really knew their business and also it took a lot of time to do it properly,” he said.
All of this contributed to the project being delayed two years, he said.
“One of my favorite [stories] is the fact that one of the [pavilion] timbers was 22 feet long, and it needed to be dried to a certain level — and there was only one kiln in the Midwest that was big enough,” Rosa said. “And the [kiln] broke.”
Workers had to wait “three to four months” to get the piece dried, he said.
The team also removed aggressively growing wild grasses such as Virginia wild rye and invasive trees such as Norway maples, which tended to block sunlight from reaching low-lying plants.
The move allowed fall-blooming flowers to start showing their colors now, particularly asters in all their vibrant purple.
Crab apple trees — a fruit-bearing Caldwell favorite — that had been lost since 2000 were replanted, Callaghan said.
“They fruited this year for the first time, so [there’s] beautiful little fruit and some really nice fall color there too,” she said.
Rosa said other major changes included slowing the flow of the pool’s waterfall — the rapid rate tended to flood the pool itself.
The park district is still figuring the price tag for lily pool’s rehab. The Lincoln Park Conservancy raised $215,000 toward the project.
But it’s worth it. Public park spaces like these, where Chicagoans can pause to catch a breath and experience a bit of nature’s beauty, are well worth preserving and protecting.
