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WELCOME to Villa Turicum. These pages are devoted to the
esoteric lost estate of Edith Rockefeller McCormick. I’ve included
collections of features, photographs, and links about anything pertaining
to this enigmatic place. Please return for another visit as I am always
updating the site.
I think there is no better way to begin than with an
article that was written in 1930, just two years before Edith’s death and
the slow demise of Villa Turicum:
"VILLA TURICUM" THE COUNTRY ESTATE OF MRS.
ROCKEFELLER McCORMICK
Lake Forest, Illinois
By
F. A. GUSHING SMITH, A.S.L.A. Editor, The American Landscape Architect
June 1930
Four beautiful elms
grace the long greensward of the mall that leads to the residence at
"Villa Turicum."
"VILLA TURICUM," the country
estate of Mrs. Rockefeller McCormick, at Lake Forest, Illinois, is regarded as the finest example in America of the Italian treatment in landscape design. This
notable summer home, of approximately three hundred acres, is situated on
a high bluff overlooking Lake
Michigan. The entire plateau,
which is nearly level, and the steep bank toward the lake, are covered
with a fine stand of native oak, maple, ash and hickory. The elusive and
delightful pattern of the estate design has been boldly cut out of this
woodland. So cleverly have the details been worked out by Charles A.
Platt, the designer, that at no one point can the entire beauty of the
plan be admired. Bits of ancient Italian garden ornaments, charming
details in bronze and wrought iron, and original pieces of sculpture are
used as accents and points of interest at the ends of long sun-flecked
vistas or as the central features of the various gardens and terraces.
One can almost imagine, upon a blue-skied June day, that a villa from the
Italian lake region had been bodily transplanted to Illinois.
The residence, which faces the
western sun, is finished in stucco with green shutters, tile roof,
balanced fenestration, and a stenciled cornice in bright colors. It
terminates a broad mall, about one hundred feet in width and five hundred
feet in length, which is reached by a long straight stretch of entrance
road cut through the forest. The service wings of the house to the north
are concealed by the heavy native woodland planting, which lines both
sides of the approach mall. The first glimpse of the residence from the
west, as it is framed by the woodland, and viewed between the arching
branches of the elm trees which mark the edge of the central grass panel
of the mall, is a sight never to be forgotten.
The South garden, with
its fountain center, is perhaps the loveliest feature of "Villa
Turicum."
The house terrace to the east is
the first of several levels that extend down to the beach. In its center there
is a large marble fountain, with a bronze figure as the decorative
feature. The two wings of the house almost enclose this terrace, while
toward the east or lake side, the broad panorama of Lake Michigan spreads out
before us.
From the sun-room to
the South, there is a charming view of the fountain terrace and the
stately promenade to the tea-house pavilion.
It is on this steep bank, toward
the lake, that there was completed, in 1912, a series of terraces,
reached by winding ramps and steps. The terraces are marked by some
beautiful pieces of sculpture, which as fountain sources have been set
into niches in the easterly retaining walls of the various overlook
levels. The water which originates in the fountain on the uppermost
terrace reappears in a wall fountain and basin on the second terrace.
This terrace, of grass, is enclosed by a balustrade, and from it we reach
the next lower level by means of a semi-circular winding series of ramps.
So cleverly has the width of the ramps been studied, and so easy is the
incline, that neither ascending nor descending tires the visitor. At the
bottom of the stairway is the level from which the marble shells form a
cascade of some height. Above the cascade is a pink marble baby figure,
which pours water into a lower basin, from which it reaches the mouth of
a marble dolphin at the upper end of the cascades.
The second of a series
of terraces that break the descent to the beach. The water which flows
from this dolphin fountain has its source in the center fountain of the
upper, or house, terrace.
In this, the
succeeding, terrace, the water again emerges from a figure fountain and
reappears as a cascade in the shell-like channel.
Steps of marble lead down either side
of the cascade. The water is so regulated that it gently follows the
contours of the shells, with just a pleasing murmur. Tall, dark,
pyramidal cedar and arbor-vitae make a dense impenetrable frame for this
picture. The intermediate terrace, which lies between the two series of
cascades, is rather narrow, with a stone flower-box and a low balustrade
toward the east. At either side, the stone ramps lead down to the
fountain which is the source of supply for the lower cascades. Here a
pelican, guarded at each side by a grinning alligator, fills a basin and
becomes the source of the quietly splashing waters of the lower cascade.
At the foot of the steps, at the side of the second waterfall, is a
terrace paved with brick. This forms the roof of the dressing-rooms
adjacent to the marble swimming pool. The swimming pool, heavily framed
by woodland planting, terminates this interesting bank treatment.
:: Grounds ::
(Page 2)
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