Hyde Park Gem

Hyde Park Gem

This historic home is a registered landmark in Chicago’s Hyde Park neighborhood. Our client’s goal was to update the landscape while paying homage to the era in which the house was built. Designed by George Maher, the home is known as the ‘Poppy House’ and poppy flower accents are repeated throughout the home in the stained glass windows, limestone pillars, and woodwork. The previous landscape consisted of an awkward series of bluestone landings leading from the front gate to the front porch, as well as some sickly evergreens. The new landscape was designed to reflect the clean lines of the Prairie School style of the home while addressing the 18” of grade change in the front yard. Reclaimed granite curbing was used to create separate levels in the front yard and allow guests to gradually make their way to the front of the home. The center level of the landscape is a simple panel of lawn with a sculpture as the central feature. The client commissioned a local artist to create the sculpture and Chalet’s designers partnered with the artist to determine placement in the garden. The plants chosen for the front yard are all period specific to the early 1900’s and would have been commonly used in gardens of that time.