Jensen legacy: a natural Indiana

Jens Jensen is to landscape architecture what Frank Lloyd Wright is to architecture of the 20th century, and maybe not surprisingly, since Jensen's turf was the Great Lakes area of the Midwest, several of his landscape designs find a home in Indiana. Jensen was born in Denmark in 1860 and immigrated to the States, settling near Chicago and working for the city's elaborate park system. Jensen was unimpressed, thinking it an unnatural thing, to have straight paths and symmetrical design. In fact, he thought it a downright crime to have vegetation not native to its surroundings included in any landscape plan.

A few years ago I became obsessed with Jensen, reading all of the material he authored and studying his work in the Hoosier state, including his leadership in establishing and protecting the fragile Indiana Dunes ecosystem. Jensen said his work in Indiana was influenced by our large native stands of beech, oak and sycamore and by the delicate sprinkling of redbuds on a wooded hillside and the luminous spring blooms of hawthorn along our fence rows. His work stretched from Indianapolis to Northwest Indiana and even some odd places in between such as Kendalville and Plymouth. He even designed the "Ideal Section" for the Lincoln Highway in Dyer, in hopes that highway design would be more park-like in configuration. Get that one past INDOT today!

a council ring in Wisconsin

Trademarks of his work are meandering paths through natural vegetation and forested areas with glimpses into a central clearing, allowing sun to filter through the trees onto the path. He also used rough, natural slabs of limestone for walls, terracing, fountains and paving stone. Probably his signature work are "council rings" he often placed in the corners of properties. These were stone paved circles partially enclosed with low stone benches; the idea being a place for conversation, heady discussion and laughter. Culver Military Academy has such a place created by Jensen in the 1920's. And as I was doing work in the Crown Point area I checked on two Jensen designs in that city, both with their council rings intact.

a council ring at a residence in Crown Point

Jensen went on to be credited with creating the "prairie style" of landscape architecture, developing his own landscape design school. He also developed a large estate/campus in Door County, Wisconsin, which I had the privilege of visiting in 2004, named "the Clearing" http://www.theclearing.org/ which still exists as a school for furthering the arts in writing, painting, photography, textiles, and woodworking among many others. The old Dane died in 1951 at the age of 91-I can't help but think his constant time in the environment led to that long life.

Hoosiers owe Jensen a debt of gratitude, if not for his celebration of our state's natural beauty in design, certainly for his foresight in protecting our dunes.