Ragdale
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Ragdale
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| Location | 1230 N. Green Bay Rd., Lake Forest, Illinois |
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| Coordinates | 42°15′45″N 87°51′2″W / 42.26250°N 87.85056°WCoordinates: 42°15′45″N 87°51′2″W / 42.26250°N 87.85056°W |
| Area | 33 acres (13 ha) |
| Built | 1897 |
| Architect | Howard Van Doren Shaw |
| Architectural style | Arts and Crafts |
| NRHP Reference # | 76000717 |
| Added to NRHP | June 3, 1976 |
Ragdale is the summer retreat of Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw, located in Lake Forest, Illinois. It is also the home of the Ragdale Foundation. Built in 1897, the house and barn were built in Shaw's typical Arts and Crafts manner.
"Howard Shaw named his new country house 'Ragdale' after an old Tudor house in Leicestershire, England, more because he liked the name itself than because the house was one of his favorites. To him, Ragdale meant meadows and woods and hollow apple trees and country vistas. The raggedy look of the shrubbery, the low hanging branches of trees, and the invasion of the lawn by violets were all deliberate effects. He was aiming for informal country surroundings for his house, not a well-groomed estate."
—Alice Hayes and Susan Moon, Ragdale: A History and Guide.
The property underwent another change in 1912 as the Ragdale Ring was installed; at the outdoor theatre, Shaw's family and friends frequently performed Frances Shaw's works for the Lake Forest community, in the 1930s. Benches were incorporated to accommodate over 200 audience members.
Ragdale was also where Sylvia Shaw Judson (1897–1978), Howard's daughter, sculpted her piece Bird Girl, which is prominently featured on the cover of John Berendt's best-selling novel, Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil. In 1943, the Meadow Studio was built on the prairie in an effort to accommodate Sylvia's interest as a sculptor; in fact, it was here that she formed the Bird Girl as well as a number of other well-known pieces, such as Cats and Summer.
In 1976 Shaw's granddaughter, poet Alice Judson Hayes (1922–2006), founded The Ragdale Foundation as a non-profit aimed at providing a place of rest and relaxation for artists of all disciplines.
"I am grateful to my mother, Sylvia Shaw Judson, who gave me the house, to the ancestors, relatives, and ghosts with whom I communed when I came back to live there in 1976, to all the artists and writers who by their creativity have validated the idea of the Ragdale Foundation, and to the many people who have helped make the Foundation work. Finally, I am grateful to the house itself for its smell and taste and texture and for the views out of its windows and for its nurturing spirit."
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