Updated. Reposted.
Patch ran a feature by Tim Moran on the house at 10520 S. Longwood Drive. This home, which was built around 1898, is on the market right now for $1.6 million. There are scores of pictures of this beautiful home that can be accessed on the Internet.
One important historic fact about this estate is that a complete landscaping design was done there in 1913 by Jens Jensen. Jensen (1860-1951) was the foremost landscape architect for the naturalistic or Prairie-style movement. The Ridge Historical Society has copies of the original landscape plans for this house.
The estate, which originally extended to Seeley Avenue on the west, was owned at the time by William Hinman Roberts, an executive with the Continental Casualty Company and the Continental Assurance Company. Roberts retired in 1937 and sold the house, moving to Seattle where he died in 1944.
Jens Jensen was born in Denmark and came to Chicago in the 1880s. He took a job with the park system and eventually became superintendent of the West Park System which included Garfield Park and Douglas Park. He was very instrumental in founding the Forest Preserves of Cook County. He also helped preserve the Indiana Dunes.
His private practice included designing private estates and municipal parks throughout the country. He did numerous projects with Henry Ford. He worked with architects Frank Lloyd Wright, Louis Sullivan, George Maher and Howard Van Doren Shaw.
In addition to the work for Roberts, Jensen did several other projects in Beverly/Morgan Park, including Crescent Park and the Hopkinson-Platt House. He was known to have led hiking groups that came by train from downtown Chicago to visit the wooded Ridge.
The aesthetic of wandering through a natural environment was a key characteristic in Jensen’s work. An ardent conservationist, he used native plants and ecology systems. This is reflected in the gardens he designed for the 10520 S. Longwood Drive estate.
https://patch.com/illinois/beverly-mtgreenwood/most-expensive-home-market-beverly