Current Capital Improvement Projects

Oak Park Conservatory Garden Project

Project Summary

The Oak Park Conservatory began as a community effort in 1914 to provide a place to house exotic plants that residents collected during their travels abroad. The present Edwardian-style glass structure, built in 1929, houses a botanical collection of more than 3,000 plants, some of which date back to the Conservatory’s founding.

Over the years the building fell into neglect. In 1970, when plans were made to raze it, a group of concerned citizens led a successful drive to preserve, and eventually enhance, this unique resource. In June of 2000 the Conservatory Center was opened to provide expanded space and facilities for educational programming, day-to-day operations and public events. Since 2000, the Conservatory has received improvements in the Fern Room, Desert Room, East Growing House, and West Growing House.

In 2008, after a competitive Request for Proposals process, Thompson Dyke & Associates of Chicago, Illinois were hired to provide professional landscape architecture services for the master site planning for the grounds around the Oak Park Conservatory and for Rehm Park. After staff and focus group input, and three community meetings, the Park Board of Commissioners reviewed the Oak Park Conservatory Site Plan final draft recommendation at the Committee of the Whole Meeting on Thursday, November 6, 2008. At the Regular Park Board Meeting on Thursday, November 13, 2008 the Park Board accepted the Oak Park Conservatory Site Plan.

In January 2009, the Board authorized staff to proceed with Phase I of the Conservatory Master Plan which encompasses the garden area on the southwest side of the Conservatory. Soon thereafter, the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory (FOPCON) and the Rubinstein Family discussed with the Park District their interest in seeing the implementation of Phase I for the Conservatory. In June of 2009, a tri-party agreement was reached between FOPCON, the Rubinstein Family and the Park District for funding the project. The family committed to a substantial gift to the Park District for the Conservatory Garden which will be named the Herbert M. Rubinstein Memorial Garden. Additionally, FOPCON committed to substantial funding in order to bring the project to fruition.

Herbert Rubinstein, for whom the garden is named, was a doctor at Loyola University Hospital and a clinical professor of medicine and orthopedics. With his wife, Elvira, who died in 1998, Dr. Rubinstein co-founded the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory in the mid 1980’s. Dr. Rubinstein died in October 2008.

Construction of the garden will begin in June 2010. The new garden will have a bluestone patio area, wood pergola, water feature, plant wall and park benches. It will be enclosed by an ornamental fence with a gate on the Clarence Avenue side and enhanced by outdoor lighting for evening rentals. The garden will be planted with a variety of trees, shrubs and perennials, including many natives, and will showcase the Conservatory’s extensive collection of tropical and desert plants. The Herbert M. Rubinstein Memorial Garden, when completed, will be open to the public during the day and available for rental in the evening hours.

Project Team

The working group for this project consists of Peter Dyke, Ben Kutscheid, and Elizabeth Dafoe from the professional landscape architecture and urban planning firm Thompson Dyke & Associates who have developed construction drawings; Sandy Lentz and Jacquelyn Payne from the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory; and Gary Balling, Henrietta Yardley and Neil Adams from the Park District. The Kenneth Company of Bolingbrook, Illinois is the project contractor. This project is estimated to cost $276,182 with over 75% of the cost covered by donations from the Friends of the Oak Park Conservatory and the Rubinstein Family. The Park District of Oak Park will fund the remainder of the project from allocations under its Capital Improvement Plan.

Park Availability

The southwest corner of the Conservatory property will be closed to the public until construction work is complete. Work will begin on or after June 7th, 2010 and will be completed in September, 2010.

Summer camps and rental opportunities in the Rubinstein room will continue uninterrupted during the garden construction project. The Exploration Station programs will be ongoing during the summer. However, due to a separate restoration project in the Conservatory’s tropical display house, the tropic and desert rooms will be closed from June until October.  The fern room will not be impacted by the tropic room renovation work or by the garden installation and will remain open.