| The photo shows the
entry of the main building
of the Fox River Country Day School (formerly known as the Chicago Junior School,
renamed shortly prior to the 90th anniversary in 2003).
It was completed during the Great Depression as
designed by John Van Bergen in
the famous "Prairie" school style for which he and various other
"Chicago School" architects of that era became widely known. It is the centerpiece of a 53 acre
wooded campus overlooking the Fox River Valley, much of which is preserved by the
school as an Illinois Natural Heritage Landmark with unique environmental
features.
The school also has two later buildings by Van Bergen, who
guided the overall campus design for over 25 years. We believe the
design reflected his friendship with the Prairie School movement's famous
Chicago landscape designer Jens Jensen, with whom he worked with in a
conservation group known as the "Friends of our Native Landscape" which
helped to preserve many parks in Chicago which residents take for granted
today. For a history of John S. Van Bergen's work, a well-researched
book by Martin Hackl is available through the
Prairie School Exchange website.
The first building on campus was actually designed by Rapp
& Rapp in 1923, prior to their fame for many National Historic Register
theater designs of the 1920's and 1930's in Chicago and other major cities.
Examples include the Chicago Theater, Oriental Theater (now the Ford
Center), Chicago Uptown Theater, Cadillac Palace Theater, Paramount Theater
(Aurora) and many others.
Since the school has many needs, we would encourage anyone
who shares our interest in their work to contact the Headmaster, Development Office, or
Chairman of the Board of the school as appropriate and consider
financial or other contributions to the success of this unique school.
|
Fox River Country
Day School
1600 Dundee Avenue
Elgin IL 60120
TEL 847-888-7910 FAX
847-888-7947
www.frcds.org
"Developing the unique potential in children from preschool
through eighth grade to love learning, excel academically, and sustain the
character integrity necessary for success at school, in their home lives,
and as future leaders of our society." The
school is preparing to work with an architect to continue the
environmentally responsible development of this beautiful campus to meet
present and future academic needs while also preserving a truly unique
architectural heritage, integrating the natural landscape with thoughtful
development of the built and academic environment to better serve more
children and their families. We are unaware of any
other site where a leading "Prairie" architect designed an entire campus and
several buildings. Writers often regard the "Prairie house" style to
have largely disappeared in favor of colonial and other home styles after
World War I, a few years after Frank Lloyd Wright closed his Oak Park
studio. John Van Bergen was the last employee Wright hired in Oak
Park, and that early experience (1909) and prior training with Walter Burley
Griffin led to further work with William Drummond before he set up his own
practice in Ravinia (Highland Park, IL) and continued to design "Prairie
School" homes throughout the Chicago area for forty years.
The Prairie School movement's enduring architectural and
landscape design ideals continued to shape Van Bergen's work, including this
unique campus design from this building (1928 - 1931) until the mid 1950's,
when he moved to California after completing the Dining Hall (1954). |
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