Lilacia Park
National Register Nomination
Client: City of Lombard Preservation Commission
Location: Lombard, Illinois
Status: Completed Spring 2019
Responsibilities:
+ Marketing Lead
+ Proposal coordination and presentation
+ Internal team coordination
+ Research and on-site documentation
+ Direct client communication and coordination
+ Nomination text, editing, and submission
+ IHSAC Presentation and final submission
(*completed while employed at RATIO)
Lilacia Park serves as a central feature of the Village of Lombard’s culture and identify. At one point, the roughly 8-acre park included one of the largest collections of lilacs in the world, developed by Col. William Plumb between 1911 and 1927. Col. Plum left his property and lilacs to the Village of Lombard for use as a public park and garden, which was later redesigned by renowned Chicago landscape architect Jens Jensen in 1929.
RATIO was selected by the Village’s Historic Preservation Commission to complete a nomination of Lilacia Park to the National Register of Historic Places. As project director, I worked directly with the Preservation Commission, Lombard Parks Department, and the Lombard Historical Society to document and research the park, develop a narrative history of the park, collect historic images and aerials, and complete the nomination. The nomination also included a full listing of all existing plantings, including their cultivation source and original planting date. I also worked directly with the Illinois State Historic Preservation Office (IL-SHPO) and the National Park Service (NPS) in finalizing the nomination.
Following completion of the nomination, I was responsible for successfully presenting the nomination for approval to the Illinois Historic Sites Advisory Council (IHSAC). Following approval by the IHSAC, IL-SHPO and NPS, Lilacia Park was officially listed in the National Register of Historic Places in May, 2018.