North Lawndale's historic sunken garden closer to start of restoration project

The long-awaited rebirth of a 120-year-old North Lawndale garden could begin this summer with the restoration of the park's 100-foot long Mediterranean Revival pergola, according to the project's advocates.

Construction drawings are being finalized that will guide the rehabilitation of the historic wooden pergola — a structure that is the key visual feature of the nearly two-acre sunken garden, built in 1907 by Sears & Roebuck Co.

"It's the classical centerpiece of [the] garden, and to have that restored is going to be amazing," said the Rev. Reshorna Fitzpatrick, chairperson of Friends of Sears Sunken Garden board. "It's something you could see when you're driving down the street — and it is going to be eye-catching to have it redone."

Restored pergola to be "an inviting space"

The open-air structure was built in 1907 at 3330 W. Arthington St., at the heart of what was then the retail goliath's worldwide headquarters campus.

The pergola is composed of 20 classically-designed columns set in tandem with a footpath through them and flanked by two Greek Revival porticos. The structure is topped by a red clay tile roof.

Surrounded by greenery and colorful flowers during the park's heyday, the pergola was a fine place for Sears workers to enjoy lunch, catch a summer breeze, or listen to the musical entertainment provided by the company.

But in 1974 and at the height of its powers, the retailer bailed out of North Lawndale for the new Sears Tower downtown.

And in the process, Sears left behind the garden, and a campus of landmark-quality brick-and-limestone buildings all designed by architects Nimmons & Fellows and successor firms.

However, new uses have come to some of the old Sears buildings in recent years.

A 1905 powerhouse at 931 S. Homan Ave., is a college prep school. A 14-story tower at 906 S. Homan Ave., — a remnant of Sears's mammoth mail order operation building — now houses non-profit groups.

And a catalog printing building, 3301 W. Arthington Ave., has been turned into residential lofts. (The Guardian in 2015 accused Chicago police of running an off-the-book interrogation facility in a former Sears warehouse at 1011 S. Homan Ave.)

Meanwhile the old Sears Administration Building — the nerve center of the old campus at 3333 W. Arthington St., sits empty and deteriorating.

Fortunately, that will no longer be the case for the sunken garden which sits directly across Arthington Ave., from the administration building.

Funded by a $1 million grant from the Richard Driehaus Foundation, the pergola restoration is the initial step in a $7 million plan to revive the whole garden.

Globally-renown Dutch designer Piet Oudolf — who is a creator of Millennium Park’s Laurie Garden — and Chicago landscape architect Chris Gent, are the lead designers

The pergola restoration is being led by the Chicago architecture firm, Arda Design.

Andrea Terry, Arda's principal in charge of the project, said the restoration will include replacing the structure's roof tiles, repairing its wood trusses, concrete repairs, and installing modern LED lighting.

"And some supplemental lighting around the site so that it's a more inviting space," she said.

Terry said new roof tiles will be supplied by Ludowici, a 130-year-old New Lexington, Ohio company that manufactured the pavilion's original clay pieces 118 years ago.

"So hopefully [the pergola] looks like it did [originally]," she said. "And gives them less maintenance for quite a while."

Fitzpatrick said she hopes work on the pergola begins late this summer.

A coup for North Lawndale

Chicago is a city of "no little plans," for sure. But smaller neighborhood-led efforts such as the sunken garden project also go a long way toward making this town more livable.

Friends of the Sunken Garden is still raising the cash to complete the entire project, and here's hoping they get every cent. Having a Piet Oudolf-designed green space in a work-a-day neighborhood rather than in the middle a city center is a coup — almost like having a corner library that was designed by Frank Gehry or the late Zaha Hadid.

But more importantly, the residents of North Lawndale and the greater West Side who have spent years championing for the garden deserve this improved urban oasis and whatever benefit and credit that comes along with it.

"It's just a beautiful space," said Fitzpatrick, who is also executive pastor of Stone Temple Church, an architectural and historical landmark at 3622 W. Douglas Blvd.

"We had a group of neighborhood gardeners come by [recently] to kind of tidy it up," she said. "It looks like it's in a coming back stage and I love that. It sends a sense of excitement and a spirit of unity. And I'm happy about that."