Summer 2020
2020 Lake Forest
Infant Welfare Showhouse & Gardens
pages 4 & 5
Photo by Cappy Johnston
FROM THE PRESIDENT
Dear Lake Foresters and Friends of the Preservation Foundation,
Like many organizations, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced us to re-examine how we conduct business and hold our meetings, how we engage with our members, and how we plan for programs and events during the year ahead. From lectures and educational events, to garden strolls and house tours, each year the highlights from our programs have always been the many engagements with our members and supporters of preservation. The Foundation’s success couldn’t be possible without your support, and for that we are deeply grateful.
The generosity of our members and donors combined with our prudent management has ensured we can weather the financial storm for a period of time. If there is a silver lining in all of this for the Foundation, it’s that it has challenged us to develop new ways of bringing events, programs, and content to you at home. I couldn’t be more excited for the future of the organization and the ideas that have been generated, and I couldn’t be more proud to be working with our board members as we pivot and embrace these new challenges.
Vibrant historic communities are places where generations meet and learn from each other. They’re infused with the richness of the past, an abiding appreciation for the present, and a palpable sense of optimism about the future.
– David Brown
Our mission has always been dedicated to the stewardship, safeguarding, and endurance of our exceptional architectural and landscape legacy for succeeding generations. We seek to accomplish this mission through public education, historic preservation, and advocacy. Right now we are missing the opportunity to come together with our generous and vibrant membership for our usual events. While we await the opportunity to come together again in the beautiful, physical community spaces of Lake Forest, we are looking for ways to provide virtual experiences and ongoing programming. You can keep up with LFPF by following us on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for past programs. We look forward to seeing you in person again soon.
This past May, for the first time ever, we held our Annual Meeting virtually, live streaming it on YouTube. In mid June, we held an informative virtual program on architect Benjamin Marshall (1874-1944). Foundation member Steven Monz shared his passion, knowledge, and a recent Benjamin Marshall Society documentary of Marshall, who left a distinctive mark on Chicago’s lakefront and downtown buildings as well as estates in the north and west suburbs in the early decades of the 20th century. The program was wonderfully informative.
None of us can wait to be able to gather again on a beautiful summer evening for a garden stroll, or tour a fabulous historic home, but until then we want to invite you to continue to join us virtually. If you are on Facebook or Instagram, I hope you’ve noticed our ramped up activities, with new posts throughout the week. I encourage you to follow us and LIKE and SHARE our posts.
Stay tuned throughout the summer, because even if we are not able to be together in person, we are continuing to bring you the high quality programs and content you’ve come to expect from us. We greatly appreciate your continued support as members and donors during this time, and we look forward to being together again in the near future.
Peter
Be well and stay safe.
Upcoming Program
Summer Garden Stroll
Friday, August 7
4:30 pm–5:30 pm or 6:00 pm–7:00 pm
Leisurely enjoy a beautiful garden bursting with color, design and expression with the Preservation Foundation. Following the state regulations for social distancing and attendance there will be two one-hour viewings. Tickets will be limited, and the number of attendees will be strictly adhered to. Please visit our website for details and to buy tickets.
Even though our garden-time together will be shorter than our usual garden strolls, this event provides a wonderful opportunity to have dinner at one of our local restaurants afterwards. A listing of restaurants with special LFPF Garden Stroll offerings will be on our website.
Lake Forest’s Evolving Hospital
1899 through 2020
The new Northwestern Medicine/Lake Forest Hospital, designed by the firm of eminent modernist architect Cesar Pelli, opened in 2018 with landscape work continuing through 2019. If Northwestern Medicine took brickbats for demolishing the striking modernist Streeterville Prentice Women’s Hospital designed by Mies-trained Bertram Goldberg, it made up for it in Lake Forest. That replacement hospital features a spectacular horizontally-organized modern building, set in a diversely evocative classic landscape and garden setting. The new building with its glass atrium entry and garden front dome overlooking a stunning infinity pool speaks to the state-of-the-art medical authority of the new facility. Like its circa 1942 predecessor to the south, it sits on ground donated by the A. B. Dick family adjacent to the 1930s built Route 41 highway and truck route. Access expanded with its own exit from the north making the new NU/LF hospital an easy destination from east Lake County area—from Highland Park and Deerfield on the south to Gurnee and Waukegan north, and to Vernon Hills and Libertyville west.
The roots of the hospital in town go back to the 1899 Frost & Granger designed Alice Home Hospital, on the north campus of Lake Forest University, soon College. It was a cottage hospital in the English estate tradition, serving simple cases and births, while relying on Chicago hospitals for challenging cases.
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LAKE FOREST PRESERVATION FOUNDATION
2020–2021
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE
Peter Coutant
President
Tom Gleason
VP Communications
Elizabeth Abbattista
VP Development
Liz Brandel
Trey Gonzales
VP Programs
John Julian
Secretary
Craig Fox
Treasurer
Jim Opsitnik
Immediate Past President
DIRECTORS
Robert Alfe
Susan Rafferty Athenson
Michelle Curry
Jim Farrell Sr.
Adrienne Fawcett
Angela Fontana
Lauren Kelly
Laura V. Luce
Debbie Marcusson
William McFadden
Roger Mohr
Natalie Reinkemeyer
Monica Artmann Ruggles
Denise Schlax
Jason Smith
Courtney Trombley
HONORARY DIRECTORS
Gail Hodges
Arthur Miller
Pauline Mohr
Shirley Paddock
Linda Shields
EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
Marcy Kerr
Preservation
SUMMER 2020
VOLUME 13, NUMBER 2
Contributors:
Paul Bergmann, Peter Coutant, Adrienne Fawcett, Leah Fietsam, Tom Gleason, Gail Hodges, Marcy Kerr, David Mattoon, Arthur Miller, Pauline Mohr and Courtney Trombley
Photography:
Cappy Johnston
Lake Forest Preservation Foundation
400 East Illinois Road
Lake Forest, Illinois 60045
NON-PROFIT ORG
U.S. POSTAGE
PAID
PERMIT NO. 184
LAKE FOREST, IL
60045
ECRWSSEDDM
Residential Customer
Lake Forest, IL 60045
