LFLB History Museum

Postcard, c. 1920.

Address: 1075 E. Ringwood Road, Lake Forest

Year built: 1914

Architect: Howard Van Doren Shaw

Original owners: Edward Larned and Mary Pringle Ryerson

Edward Ryerson’s first Lake Forest estate, Havenwood I, was designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw in 1906 at Sheridan and Woodland roads. Eight years later, he had Shaw design a second and much grander country house, Havenwood II, further south, with more space for grounds and gardens.

Allee in garden.

Architect David Adler, working in Shaw’s practice at that time, likely influenced the balanced design of the house and site plan that featured straight, long vistas culminating in formal gardens, fountains or garden structures. Shaw designed the pergola and elegant teahouse and additional garden elements. Rose Standish Nichols organized the formal planting and lush gardens while Jens Jensen contributed the broad vistas framed by woodlands.

Garden at Havenwood with fountain and statues. Fountain designed by Howard Van Doren Shaw.

Shaw-designed pergola covered with plantings and flanked by pottery.

Edward Ryerson oversaw the Ryerson family fortune, which was derived from the fabrication and distribution of steel. The firm would eventually become Inland Steel in 1935. Ryerson was a leader of social and philanthropic organizations in Chicago; president of the Newberry Library, and a trustee of the Chicago Historical Society, Chicago Symphony and the Art Institute of Chicago.

Mary Ryerson, daughter of the noted New England essayist “Ilk Marvel,” was passionate about gardening. As a founding member of the Lake Forest Garden Club, Mary Ryerson’s gardens were included in the 1919 and 1923 Garden Club of America tours. It was said that these gardens were always open to the public.

View of Havenwood II from approach. Image Source: Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson and Burnham Archives.

Measured drawing in ink of the gardens at Havenwood II, by FALA students J.M. Frissel, M.C. Josephson and L.F. Murry. This drawing was entered in the annual competition for European traveling fellowships. Image source: Lake Forest Library.

Edward L Ryerson was the honorary president of the Foundation for Architecture and Landscape Architecture (FALA), set up as a summer program to train students. He established the Ryerson Fellowship for European Study that still exists at the University of Illinois.

Hall at Havenwood II. A signature large, vaulted Shaw main gallery. Image Source: Art Institute of Chicago, Ryerson and Burnham Archives.

By the 1940s, Havenwood II had become a monastery for the Franciscan Fathers. The main house was razed and the property subdivided in 1979. The gatehouse is extant at 955 Ringwood.

Havenwood II: Second Lake Forest Estate of the Ryersons