Following my retirement as CEO of the Roger Tory Peterson Institute, my wife and I returned to Illinois. The home we purchased in Batavia was built in 1852 by Thomas Lathrop Cleveland, a cousin of President Grover Cleveland. It is a classic example of Midwest Greek Revival — so much so that it is included in the Historic American Building Survey.
The Survey, conducted in 1936, well documents the floorplan, the facade elevations and many of the architectural features, including the Doric columns and dentil cornice. Photos provide a time capsule snapshot of the landscape and gardens, as well. By that time, the property had passed through several hands — including Thomas Burnham, co-founder of one of the six major windmill manufactories that gave Batavia the nickname, “Windmill Capital of the World.” After 85 years (as of 1936) the building appears in good shape. The landscaping, however, appears rather conventional, unexceptional, even a little shaggy.
According to Batavia Places and the People who Called them Home, later homeowners — Lyle and Terri Bergmann — would restore the house and gardens “to their former elegance.” However, there are no plans or photos my wife and I yet can find suggesting what elegant landscape design there may have been.
As my wife and I begin our stewardship of the historic property, the bones of the formal landscape introduced by the Bergmanns remain but bear the hallmarks of neglect common to many a designed landscape. For instance, the formal boxwood hedging installed throughout the property is missing several sections, ornamental trees and shrubs are overgrown or in poor health, and the flower beds filled mostly with weeds.
My wife and I share the ethic that we have a responsibility, as caretakers, to leave this important property in better shape for the next generation. With this in our hearts and minds, we have decided to work with the landscape bones we’ve inherited and to enhance them, reflective of an emerging trend to incorporate native plant species within a formal garden design. Thus is our challenge, opportunity and joy in the years ahead.
