Historic Resource Assessment
ELAWA FARM
Prepared by
Historic Certification Consultants
1105 West Chicago Avenue
Chicago, Illinois
Susan S. Benjamin
August 26, 1998

STATEMENT OF SIGNIFICANCE
The farm group built in 1917 for A. Watson Armour, a member of one of Chicago's oldest and most distinguished families, is architecturally significant as a rare representative example of a Lake Forest gentleman's farm. It is also noteworthy for its fine design and for its association with two very significant architects: David Adler and Alfred Hopkins. Adler and Howard Van Doren Shaw are generally considered the North Shore's premier estate architects. Hopkins, a New York architect who is known to have designed only two farm groups in Illinois, is the acknowledged authority on estate farm complexes, and has been called the "unquestioned dean of Farm group architecture."(footnote 1) Historically the farm group built for Armour was known as ELAWA FARM, a composite of ELsa and A. Watson Armour and subsequently as LeWa Farm, named for Lelia and Wallace Carroll, who purchased the property in 1954.

Because ELAWA FARM is a stunning representative example of estate farm architecture, because it is virtually unaltered, and because it is unique in Lake Forest, the buildings forming the main farm group should be preserved and adaptively reused.

A. WATSON ARMOUR
A. Watson Armour was a member of one of Chicago's oldest and most prestigious families, significant in the city's commercial development. A descendent of Philip D. Armour (I 832-1901), who founded the meatpacking firm of Armour & Co. in 1875, A. Watson Armour was born in Kansas City, Missouri in 1882, the son of Kirkland B. and Annie P. (Hearne) Armour. In 1907, he married Elsa Parker, and they had a daughter, Mrs. W. Irving Osborne and two sons, A. Watson III and Charles B. Armour. A. Watson Armour began in the meat packing business in 1903, becoming Vice President and Director of Armour & Co. in 1915. He remained active in the business until 1929. Armour also served as a trustee on several boards including Commonwealth Edison, Northern Trust, St. Luke's Hospital and the Chicago Council, Boy Scouts of America. His obituary notes he was a member of the Chicago, Onwentsia, Old Elm, Shore Acres and Casino Clubs. (footnote 2) Armour died in 1953.

ELAWA FARM
ELAWA FARM was the Armour's weekend home. The 1917 Book of Chicagoans lists their primary residence at 1200 Lake Shore Drive in Chicago. Two years earlier (at approximately the same time A. Watson Armour became Vice President of Armour& Co.) he started to build his country place, hiring David Adler as architect. (footnote 3) A large home was drawn up by Henry Corwith Dangler (who was then working for David Adler and signed the firm's drawings since Adler was unlicensed) (footnote 4). It was Georgian Colonial Revival and symmetrical, with two wings surrounding a front courtyard, similar in concept to the central section of the farm group. The house was meant to be constructed in what has since been called the picnic grove, located where the existing road forks to the left off the drive to the farm group from Waukegan Road. It would have overlooked the Armour's 128 acres. This estate home was never built, though a picnic building was constructed; today a flagstone hearth is all that exists from that structure. The Armours began building their Lake Forest country estate in 1915, completing two gatehouses. When they abandoned the idea of the main house, they had David Adler design a garage and add a wing to each gatehouse, forming a courtyard. The family then lived in the twin houses. Their home's most unusual feature is a tunnel connecting the gatehouses so that household members need not go outside to travel between the two halves of their home in bad weather. Building permit #1631, dated March 18, 1936, indicates that David Adler was the architect to construct a tunnel from one cottage to another; the cost was to be $2,000. These buildings continue to serve as a single-family residence.

The farm complex, along with a large formal garden to the east, was designed to be an important integral part of the estate and planned at about the same time the gatehouses were being built. Armour's personal interest in farming may have stemmed from his childhood. His father Kirkland helped develop the Hereford breed of cattle in the United States by purchasing pedigreed stock from the herd of the King of England about 1900 to start herds on the Armour family farms in Missouri. (footnote 5) Barry Carroll, who grew up on the property, recalls that A. Watson Amour kept horses at ELAWA FARM and had fourteen to sixteen of them in the stables. The Armours also raised laying hens in a one-story red brick chicken house said to have been designed by David Adler, located to the south and east of the silo. A 16 mm. family movie, made by Mr. Armour, shows cows grazing, chickens, horses pulling sleds and corn being threshed. Several metal signs, with farm families and playful farm animals cut into silhouette patterns, were illustrated in the film. One read "ELAWA FARM Gardens". There is a handsomely designed metal fence with similar silhouettes as well as an original lamppost, currently stored on the property. Mrs. John McGovern, granddaughter of A. Watson Armour, recalls visiting the farm often with great fondness. She said when she was a little girl she spent every weekend there. Her grandfather, she commented, loved farming; they had horses and sheep and a wonderful garden. (footnote 6) The Carroll Family carried on the tradition of farming, continuing to raise Shetland ponies, turkeys, laying hens and Sicilian burros.

THE FARM'S ARCHITECTURE
The farm complex built for the A. Watson Armours was designed by New York architect Alfred Hopkins, who was considered the leading expert on estate farms. These complexes, designed for estate or gentleman farms such as Armours, were called "farm groups" in contemporary journal articles and books. Farm group architecture was rural in character in the sense that it typically was built with a low orientation. At ELAWA FARM, for instance, the roof pitches are low and the buildings are joined by covered passageways. But the farm buildings constructed for country estates were not related architecturally to the typical farm. Buildings were not just set down anywhere as they sometimes are on Midwest farmsteads. Farm groups were generally architect designed and were often as distinguished as the estate house. Although it appears from material published on Hopkins and by him that he designed only two farm groups in Illinois--Armour’s and one for Medill. McCormick in Byron, Illinois--he designed many on the east coast, with fifteen on Long Island, including one for Louis Comfort Tiffany.

Hopkins felt that his farm groups should be both practical and artistic, and he received considerable critical praise for his work. An article on farm groupings published in the Architectural Record in 1915 notes Hopkins was often called upon to design farm buildings on estates where the residences were the work of other highly regarded architects (such as Bertram Goodhue, John Russell Pope and Charles Platt). This is the case here; Armour's residence was designed by David Adler. It goes on to say that Hopkins wrote extensively on the subject and that his book Modern Farm Buildings was one of the leading works on this type of architecture. (footnote 7) His book was considered the definitive treatise on the subject and had gone into three editions by 1920. (footnote 8)

ELAWA FARM was planned following the practical requirements in his book on farm group design and reflects his philosophy on estate farming. It is laid out symmetrically, carefully designed to separate the necessary farming functions. For instance, hay storage was removed from its traditional loft over the stables to eliminate the infiltration of dust as well as the pollution of the hay by the foul air arising from below. (footnote 9) Separate facilities for the storage of hay and feed and open sided sheds to house farm vehicles (such as the structure on the west side of the farm group at ELAWA FARM) were characteristic Hopkins features. Spatially his low-slung farm groups were always composed around several courtyards or paddocks, as they are at ELAWA FARM, thus allowing for the separation of cows and horses and for the ingenious integration of barnyard and stable functions. (footnote 10) Hopkins' floor plans illustrate that ELAWA FARM was designed with four courtyards. The court labeled "central court" served as a paddock. The "south court" was accessed by an apartment at the south end of the group, four farmhands’ rooms and four horse stalls. The "north court" was flanked by cow stables, an office and dairy and the rear of the machine room. The "wagon court," on the west side of the bam was gated on the south and on the north and was to accommodate vehicles. To the east was the complex with the bam in it; to the west was the wagon shed flanked by a pump house and ice house. Four brick piers marked the entrance to the wagon court. All of these elements at ELAWA FARM form a single complex, where every part, including the courtyards, is significant to the whole. Hopkins’ plans don't show greenhouses or cold frames, which were located south of the south piers in the wagon court and were presumably later additions. There is no reference to a designer of these elements.

The Architectural Record of 1915 on Hopkins’ farm groupings stated that artistic as well as practical concerns were to be taken into account when planning a farm group. Farm groups were intended to please the eye, and Hopkins’ design for the Armour estate was stylistically beautiful. It was built in the Georgian Colonial Revival style, of red brick. Wood trim was white and is now painted green. An elegant simplicity governs the design, and indeed, a reticence in the use of ornament characterizes Hopkins' work. But the simplicity should not be deceptive; the farm group has carefully disciplined classical detailing like other Georgian Colonial Revival structures. Classical’ features include its overall symmetry, with wings flanking the two story bam and gated paddock, as well as specific design features. Among the Classical details are the slender cupola with a wind vane and clock that tops the gable roof of the bam, pediments over the grand arched center entrance, brick pilasters flanking the entrance, engaged Doric wood columns on the porches and Palladian windows.

Although country estates were built in a variety of architectural styles, Georgian Colonial Revival was always favored. Nationalism and patriotism created a movement that had a profound effect on all aspects of American culture from America’s centennial in 1876 until World War II. (footnote 11) Colonial Revival was the indigenous architecture of 18th-century America. And it was America’s ancestral style, which made it attractive to both old society and Americans who wished to continue their ancestor's traditions. Living in a Georgian Colonial Revival manor house was a fine way to emulate the life of an 18th Century landed gentlemen (like Thomas Jefferson) and many Georgian Revival homes were designed by the country's most respected estate architects including David Adler, Charles Platt and John Russell Pope. Pope, in fact, designed a grand Georgian Colonial Revival estate for Marshall Field, III, ("Caumsett") on the north coast of Long Island in 1923. Alfred Hopkins worked with Pope, designing a Georgian Colonial Revival farm group for Caumsett, one that is very similar to ELAWA FARM. Since the Fields were in Chicago in the mid teens, during the years when ELAWA FARM was being built, (footnote 12) it would be interesting to know if Field could have hired Hopkins because he was familiar with Armour's farm group.

Subsequent to Hopkins' design for ELAWA FARM, David Adler's office worked on the farm complex. Extant drawings indicate that Robert Work, who was with Adler and signed his drawings after Henry Dangler died in 1917, drew up plans for the Superintendent's cottage located in the southwest comer of the farm group in 1919-20. It was built in the Georgian Colonial Revival style to complement the farm group. The earliest permits on record at Lake Forest’s building department date back only to 1937, but Permit #1840, dated June 25, 1937, indicates Adler was hired to enclose a porch at 990, the address for the farm buildings. Barry Carroll recalls that Adler designed the brick chicken coop located west of Hopkins’ farm group at the north end of the property, and there is a drawing of this building signed by Robert Work in the collection of the Architecture Department of the Art Institute. (footnote l3) There is a drawing for a building marked "NW Machine Shed" dated 9/15/28 and designed by R. C. Clark in the collection of Lake Forest Open Lands. No information on the importance of R. C. Clark is presently available. Permit #3629 indicates that a "brooder house" was built for Armour at 990 in 1951.

THE GENTLEMAN FARM
Farm estates were known as "gentleman farms" or "hobby farms" because, even if some money was made, the farm operation rarely if ever supported the house. Country place owners built farms to enjoy the pleasures of land ownership and to engage in active outdoor pursuits, not to create a major source of income. And gentleman farms appealed to the weary city dweller. The cities that industrialization had brought into being, like Chicago, were perceived as crowded, dirty, disease ridden and corrupt. The farm group expressed a profound romantic nostalgia for the country's agrarian past, a past that writers like John Burroughs praised as a sweeter time. In addition, gentleman farms provided a wholesome environment for children and fun for the family. There were horseback rides, and wonderful opportunities for guest outings. Clive Aslet, who wrote The American Country House, in 1990, devoted an entire chapter to "The Farm Beautiful", calling it “more fun than a yacht". (footnote 14) The Armour's 1939 movie shows their family having a wonderful time at the farm, on sleigh rides and skeet shooting. The symbolic importance of the farm was often so great to the country house owner that he kept the word "farm" in the name of the estate even if there was no working farm.

THE GENTLEMAN FARM IN LAKE FOREST
Lake Forest and the communities to the north and west had a number of important gentleman farms. John J. Halsey, in A History of Lake County, mentions those of Henry Ives Cobb and Louis B. Swift, built in the late 19th century, as well as that of Arthur J. Meeker. (footnote 15) Among the most significant ones in Lake Forest was Meeker's "Arcady Farm", which was razed in 1975. Meeker, who was an officer with Armour & Co, received a gift from his employer J. Odgen Armour of a tract of farmland adjacent to the property that was to become J. Ogden Armour's Mellody Farm. "Arcady Farm" was located at the northwest comer of Waukegan Road and Kennedy Road. The farm group as well as the house were designed in 1906 by the highly regarded architect of Mellody Farm, Arthur Heun. It was a large complex described by his son Arthur Meeker in Chicago With Love, "...he built a kind of village round a square. This, too, I conjecture, was meant to be Norman; there was an old French bell in the middle of the square, and a tower with a winding stair attached to the building where the milkers lived." There were cow and horse barns, pigpens, sheep pens, runs for chickens, haylofts and workshops and a dairy. Meeker noted that Arcady Farm produced and marketed the first certified milk sold in the state. (footnote 16)

Other estates in Lake Forest had farm components. Although some barns have been demolished, farm buildings may still be found at "Ragdale", 1260 Green Bay Road, at Charles Garfield King's property south of Kennedy Road and West of Ridge Road and at Albert Lasker's "Mill Road Farm". Those that were once part of Robert P. Lamont's "West View Farms", at 81 0 South Ridge Road and Clifford Leonard's "Meadowood Farm" at 550-75 Hathaway Circle, have since been converted into homes. Designed by Ralph Varney in 1923, the bam at Meadowood Farm is architecturally very interesting but has been considerably altered. The only intact farm group nearby that is comparable to ELAWA FARM is in Lake Bluff-. Crab Tree Farm, a dairy operation built for Scott S. Durand in 1905 by S.S. Beman. ELAWA FARM is the only intact remaining farm group in Lake Forest.

CONCLUSION
The significance of ELAWA FARM is unquestionable. The farm complex is architecturally important as a distinguished example of "farm group" architecture, designed by Alfred Hopkins, the architect who literally wrote the book on elegant estate farms. ELAWA FARM reflects his theories on fanning as well as his artistic approach to farm design. The complex is a beautifully designed Georgian Colonial Revival complex, equal in design quality to many Lake Forest residences by other well-known architects.

The farm buildings and the gate houses which form the main residence are also important for their connection with David Adler, whose significance as an estate designer has received world wide acclaim. Adler designed the main residence (the gate houses and garage complex), the superintendent's residence, alterations to the house and farm buildings and the chicken coop.

What is particularly remarkable about ELAWA FARM is its rarity and its level of integrity. There are few farm groups to be found in eastern Lake County and only one, Crab Tree Farm, that is arguably as significant. "Arcady Farm", built in Lake Forest by Arthur Heun for Arthur Meeker, would have been comparable in significance if it had not been demolished. Although there are many farm groups on the east coast, ELAWA FARM is basically all that remains in Lake Forest of farm group architecture. ELAWA FARM is also extraordinary for its integrity. The buildings are virtually unaltered. The footprint of the Hopkins-designed complex, as well as the detailing, is intact. The only changes to the farm group were made by David Adler and these are historic, (over fifty years old), having gained significance over time.

Preserving the entire farm group complex designed by Hopkins, including the wagon shed to the west, is primary. Removing any of the buildings designed by Hopkins would diminish the significance of the complex, which was carefully designed as a comprehensive whole. Saving the superintendent's house designed by David Adler (drawing signed by Robert Work) is also primary. During rehabilitation, any alterations to these structures should be made thoughtfully to conform to the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for Rehabilitation. All of the farm property should be examined for any historic elements, such as sips that were designed by Alfred Hopkins or lampposts, and they should be preserved.

Saving the Adler-designed chicken coop located west of the Hopkins farm group would be of secondary importance if some tough preservation decisions have to be made because of cost considerations. Although it was built by David Adler, the poultry house was not designed as an integral part of the farm group and has no distinguished detailing. In order to preserve the original Hopkins complex, it would be possible to document the Adler building, demolish it and use the salvaged materials to restore the original farm group. Restoring the historic gardens located to the east of the farm group could be taken into consideration as a step in preserving the farm group. They were formally designed, a virtual extension of the symmetrical configuration of the farm buildings. There is a planting plan for the gardens as well as photos and the family movie.

Structures, such as the root cellar, cold frames, the one remaining greenhouse, the silo, the building designed in 1928 by R. C. Clark and structures over fifty years old are third in importance. They are farm buildings, but not architecturally significant and can be considered for removal. Any structures not designed by Hopkins or Adler could be taken down without diminishing the importance of the complex.

Preserving ELAWA FARM's farm group at this point in time presents an important opportunity for the City of Lake Forest, Lake Forest Open Lands and the Lake County Forest Preserve--an opportunity that could be forever lost if the complex is tom down or any sections or courtyards are removed. Because of its architectural significance, the farm group, including the superintendent's house, is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places and should be incorporated into future planning for rehabilitation and adaptive reuse.

FOOTNOTES
1. Robert B. Mackay, Anthony K. Baker and Carol A. Graynor. Long Island Country Houses and Their Architects: 1860-1940. New York: Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities in Association with W.W. Norton & Company, 1997. 216
2. "A. W. Armour, 71, of Packing Family, Dies." Chicago Daily Tribune. Saturday, November 7, 1953.
3. Richard Pratt. David Adler. New York: M. Evans and Company, Inc. 1970.
4. David Adler is well known for having flunked the state's architectural licensing exam. Dangler, who worked for Adler until his death in 1917, provided the necessary signature for Adler's drawings. After 1917, Robert Work became associated with Adler and signed the drawings. It is reported that when Adler was asked a question on the licensing exam relating to roof structure, he answered, "I have men in my office who take care of that sort of thing." (Pratt, 11) In 1928, Adler was awarded license.
5. Chicago Daily Tribune.
6. Interview with Mrs. John McGovern. July 23, 1998
7. John J. Klaber. "The Grouping of Farm Buildings: Examples from the Work of Alfred Hopkins". Vol 37. Architectural Record. April, 1915. 341
8. Mackay. 216
9. Klaber. 344.
10. Mackay. 216
11. Mark Alan Hewitt. The Architect and the American Country House: 1890-1940. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990. 83ff.
12. Matthew Bessell, Caumsett: The Home of Marshall Field III in Lloyd Harbor, New York. Huntington, L. I.: Huntington Town Board, 1998. 38-9.
13. Interview with Barry Carroll, son of Wallace Carroll, August 5, 1998. Subsequent conversations with Jack Nooner, who is cataloguing David Adler drawings at the Architecture Department, Art Institute of Chicago, indicate that the A. Watson Armour properties have not yet been logged in. He will complete that to provide the City of Lake Forest with information by September 5, 1998.
14. Clive Aslet. The American Country House. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990-138.
15. John J. Halsey, Editor. A History of Lake County. Philadelphia: Roy S. Bates, 1912. 198
16. Arthur Meeker. Chicago with Love. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1955. 91


BIBLIOGRAPHY
"A. W. Armour, 71, of Packing Family." Chicago Daily Tribune, November 7, 1953.
"Alfred Hopkins, 71, An Architect Here, Designer of Federal Prisons at Lursburg, Pa., and Terre Haute, Ind., is Dead, also Planned Estates, Wrote Book on Specialties -- Was musician, Composer and Student of Bookbinding." New York Times, May 6,1941.
"Armour, A. Watson," The Book of Chicagoans. Chicago, A. N. Marquis & Co., 1917.
Armour, Mrs. A. Watson (Sarah). Daughter-in-law of A. Watson Armour. Phone Interview, July 23, 1998.
Aslet, Clive. The American Country House. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
Bessell, Matthew. Caumsett: The Home of Marshall Field III in Lloyd Harbor, New York. Huntington, L. I.: Huntington Town Board, 199 1.
Carroll, Barry. Owner of A. Watson Armour property from 1954. Interview Aug. 12, 1998.
Cassell, Sylvia, "Armours Lake Forest Home is Two Houses." Chicago Tribune, June 20, 1954.
Clipping Collection, Lake Forest - Lake Bluff Historical Society. Lake Forest, Illinois. The collection contains many photocopies of dated newspaper clippings from unknown sources relating to Lake Forest's social history.
"The Country Estate In Illinois: When the Cities' Wealthy Moved to the Country." Historic Illinois. Vol. 10, February, 1988.
"Crab Tree Farm." "Illinois Urban Architectural and Historical Survey." Lake Bluff, Illinois. Historic Certification Consultants, January, 1998.
"Edward L. Ryerson Area Historic District." National Register of Historic Places. Susan Benjamin, 1992.
"Elawa Farm." 400 ft of 16 mm footage taken for A. Watson Armour of the house, farm and family, 1939. Transcribed by Barry Carroll, March 21, 1981.
"Farm Group for A. Watson Armour, Esq." Alfred Hopkins, Charles S. Keefe, 101 Park Ave., New York City, July 5, 1917: Foundation plan, floor plans, roof plan, elevations, sections.
Halsey, John J., Editor. A History of Lake County, Il1inois. Philadelphia: Roy S. Bates, 1912.
Hewitt, Mark Alan. The Architect and the American Country House. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1990.
The History of Onwentsia, 1895-1945. Lake Forest: Onwentsia Club, 1984.
Hodges, Gail. "Estate Development in Lake Forest: How it Shaped the Visual Character of the City." Lake Forest Preservation Foundation Newsletter. Fall, 1989.
Hopkins, Alfred. Modern Farm Buildings. New York: Robert M. McBride & Co., Third Edition, 1920.
Klaber, John J. "The Grouping of Farm Buildings: Examples From the Work of Alfred Hopkins." Vol 89. Architectural Record. April, 1915, 341.
Mackay, Robert B., Anthony K. Baker and Carol A. Traynor. Long Island Country Houses and their Architects, 1860-1940. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1997.
McGovern, Mrs. John. Granddaughter of A. Watson Armour. Phone Interview, July 23, 1998.
Meeker, Arthur. Chicago with Love. New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1955.
Miller, Arthur. "History of Lake Forest, Lake Forest Country Places, XXXII. Louis Swift's "Westleigh" (255 East Foster Place) and the Charles G. King Place, Westleigh Farms on Ridge Road." The Journal Lake Forest, Vol. 6, October 1997. This article is one of an ongoing series written by Arthur Miller, Archivist, Lake Forest College, Lake Forest, Illinois.
900, 910 N. Waukegan Road. Building Permits, City of Lake Forest.
900-990 N. Waukegan - Elawa Lodge and Farm. Real Estate listing from brochure, 5/18/54. Collection Lake Forest - Lake Bluff Historical Society. Lake Forest, Illinois.
"Planting Plan." Estate of Mr. A. Watson Armour, January, 1918.
Pratt, Richard. David Adler. New York. M. Evans and Company, Inc. 1970.
"Proposed Farm Group for A Watson Armour, Esq., Lake Forest, Illinois." Alfred Hopkins. 101 Park Avenue, New York City. April 19, 1917. Perspective, south elevation only. Earlier plan dated March 19, 1917. One is Tudor Revival and one is Georgian Colonial Revival. Neither of these drawings illustrate the farm group as constructed, though both are similar.
"Random Thoughts on Farm Buildings," Country Life in America. July, 1924.
"Shed for Mr. A. Watson Armour." R. C. Clark, Architect, Chicago, Ill. September 15, 1928.
"Some Interesting Farm Buildings. Alfred Hopkins, Architect, Charles S. Keefe, Associate." Architectural Review, October, 1919, p. 106, pl 153-4.
“Superintendent's Cottage for A. Watson Armour." Robert Work Architects. Successor to Henry C. Dangler Architect, 220 S. Michigan Ave., Chicago. January 7, 1919. Revised January 20, 1920. Dangler signed drawings from David Adler's office until Henry Dangler died in 1917. Then Robert Work signed them.