Lakelandwood: The Field Estate

Making It Home Nature By Design
Lakelandwood: The Field Estate
Stanley Field (1875-1964); Sara Carroll Brown Field (1878-1962) at a flower booth at the Lake Forest Country Fair. Image source: Chicago Daily News.

Stanley Field (1875-1964); Sara Carroll Brown Field (1878-1962) at a flower booth at the Lake Forest Country Fair. Image source: Chicago Daily News.

Address: 315 Moffett Road, Lake BluffYear built: 1912-1913Architect: Daniel Burnham & CompanyOriginal owners: Stanley and Sara Brown FieldThe nephew of department store magnate Marshall Field, Stanley Field served as an employee and executive for 70 years at Marshall Field & Co. It was through his many civic projects in Chicago that he came to know architect and urban planner Daniel Burnham. Around the same time that Burnham was working on the design of the Field Museum, Stanley and Sara Field commissioned Burnham’s firm to build Lakelandwood, a grandly scaled estate on 30 acres in south Lake Bluff.
The dramatic approach to Lakelandwood was through an allee of trees (originally poplar, then hemlock) still in existence today. The three-story house had a four-pillared entrance with surrounding landscape designed by Warren Manning. Manning created the allee, the sunken garden as well as the long garden to the south. Stanley Field helped establish Grant Park, the Shedd Aquarium and Brookfield Zoo. He guided the construction of the Field Museum of Natural History and served as its president.The main house was razed in 1967 and the property subdivided. The worker’s cottage is now a private home and there are original garden elements at 575 Lakeland Road.