The Lost Garden

Robert enjoyed all his gardens, each for different reasons. One of his favorite gardens, eventually nicknamed The Lost Garden, provided a place for respite for Robert and his friends after hours of riding or strolling the trails. During his lifetime, the garden could be reached by a riding path or a cable bridge over the river near the Mansion. It’s now more easily found by driving down Allerton Road and parking in the little lot a few hundred yards beyond the Music Barn.

Around 1936, John Gregg designed a Tea House for the garden—with an arched doorway, a sundeck roof, and statues—that offered a convenient picnic spot, surrounded by red cedars and oaks.

Many of the sculptures collected on Robert’s journeys were displayed in and around the Tea House at various times, including a copy of Canova’s Venus Italica, the Chinese Musicians, The Three Graces, and others. Robert also added a line of cypress among the oak trees.

In the late 1960s the University of Illinois removed the Tea House, much to John Gregg Allerton’s disproval, after a boy was injured climbing on the rotten sundeck roof. The remaining statues were relocated to other parts of the Park after continued vandalism in the 1970s.

Today, all that is left are several pillars and concrete slabs where the pavilion and statues once stood. The area still offers a wonderful starting spot for hikers and observers of nature as they wander through the trees, along the riverbed, or out into the open prairie.

Text in-part courtesy of Maureen Holtz.