Centaurs: A Renaissance-Inspired Estate for the Hamill Family

Making It Home Nature By Design
Centaurs: A Renaissance-Inspired Estate for the Hamill Family

Entrance, with clay tile roofing and a pair of centaur statues by American sculptor John Storrs.

Library at Centaurs. Image Source: photograph by Ezra Stoller, courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago Historic Architecture and Landscape collection, c. 1865-1973.

Library at Centaurs. Image Source: photograph by Ezra Stoller, courtesy of the Art Institute of Chicago Historic Architecture and Landscape collection, c. 1865-1973.

Hamill Library Bookplate. Designed by Thomas Maitland Cleland, artist and book designer (1880-1964). Image Source: Wikitree.

Hamill Library Bookplate. Designed by Thomas Maitland Cleland, artist and book designer (1880-1964). Image Source: Wikitree.

Staff quarters and garage with adjoining tower, designed by David Adler.

Staff quarters and garage with adjoining tower, designed by David Adler.

Tower with adjoining staff quarters and garage. Hamill would read and write poetry on the fourth floor of the tower. Photo dated 1972.

Tower with adjoining staff quarters and garage. Hamill would read and write poetry on the fourth floor of the tower. Photo dated 1972.

Stairs in the tower, 1972.

Stairs in the tower, 1972.

Alfred Hamill’s study in the Tower. Walls feature Byzantine-style murals by Russian artist, Nikolai Remisoff (1887-1975). Image Source: John P. Walsh, website.

Alfred Hamill’s study in the Tower. Walls feature Byzantine-style murals by Russian artist, Nikolai Remisoff (1887-1975). Image Source: John P. Walsh, website.

Mural in the Tower painted by Nikolai Remisoff, c. 1928. This is the same artist that painted the murals at Lake Forest Library.

Mural in the Tower painted by Nikolai Remisoff, c. 1928. This is the same artist that painted the murals at Lake Forest Library.

Belvedere at the Centaurs estate. The Palladian structure is of limestone and pink granite. The nymphs were designed by American sculptor, John Storr. The twirling staircase recalls the stairs in an English gentleman’s library.

Belvedere at the Centaurs estate. The Palladian structure is of limestone and pink granite. The nymphs were designed by American sculptor, John Storr. The twirling staircase recalls the stairs in an English gentleman’s library.

Walled garden with yews in center, yellow potted flowers and statue at rear wall.

Walled garden with yews in center, yellow potted flowers and statue at rear wall.

Smithsonian Institute, Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America collection, c. 1930.

Smithsonian Institute, Archives of American Gardens, Garden Club of America collection, c. 1930.

Alfred Ernest Hamill, 1920 passport photo, and Clarice Walther Hamill, 1947 Chicago Tribune photograph.

Alfred Ernest Hamill, 1920 passport photo, and Clarice Walther Hamill, 1947 Chicago Tribune photograph.

Clarice Walther Hamill, her son Ernest A. Hamill, mother; Clara Griffith Walther holding Ernest’s daughter Ariel. Image courtesy of Corwith Hamill.

Clarice Walther Hamill, her son Ernest A. Hamill, mother; Clara Griffith Walther holding Ernest’s daughter Ariel. Image courtesy of Corwith Hamill.

Address: 1115 E. Illinois Road, Lake ForestYear built: 1913Architect: Henry Dangler and David AdlerOriginal owners: Alfred E. and Clarice Walther HamillAlfred Hamill’s cousin, Ecole des Beaux-Arts trained architect Henry Corwith Dangler, designed this estate. After Dangler’s death in 1917, his partner David Adler was brought in to recast the home's facade and add to the structure and outbuildings from 1922-1928. This included expanding Hamill’s magnificent library to accommodate 10,000 volumes.
The Tuscan tower attached to the estate’s garages served as Alfred Hamill’s escape and study.
The extensive Renaissance-inspired gardens were designed by O. C. Simonds and Ferruccio Vitale.
Alfred Hamill was an investment banker and bibliophile. He and his wife Clarice were deeply involved in the arts. He was president of Newberry Library, vice-president of the Art Institute of Chicago, founder of Centaur Press and president of the Lake Forest Library. He published several books of his own poetry under the name Hugh Weston. Clarice Hamill, book designer and illustrator, was president of the Art Institute’s Antiquarian Society. They were major supporters of the Foundation for Architecture and Landscape Architecture, a summer program at Lake Forest College.