{"nrhp_refnum":"07000701","name":"Allerton, Robert, Estate","other_names":["The Farms","Robert Allerton Park and Conference Center"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"515 Old Timber Rd.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Monticello","county":"Piatt County","state":"IL","lat":40.00114759200005,"lon":-88.65002603111704,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"2007-07-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Communications","Social History","Architecture","Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A historic district of about 800 acres of woodland, meadow and river valley near Monticello, Piatt County, Illinois, developed largely between 1899 and 1938. It centers on a Georgian Revival mansion, outbuildings, formal gardens and outdoor sculpture.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the estate as an example of the American Country Place Era, in which architecture, gardens and landscape were designed as one unit. It features gardens by John Borie and later work by John Gregg, along with a notable collection of outdoor sculpture assembled by Robert Allerton. The nomination marks it as nationally significant.","narrative":"Robert Allerton's estate near Monticello, Illinois, covers about 800 acres of woodland, meadow and river valley. It was developed largely between 1899 and 1938 around a large Georgian Revival mansion, with a Gate House built in 1905 for the head gardener and a House-in-the-Woods added in 1917. Around the house lie formal gardens laid out on an axis, including a vegetable garden designed by John Borie in 1902, parterre gardens, a sunken garden and a Fu Dog Garden built in 1932. Allerton collected bronze, limestone and ceramic sculpture, and some pieces, such as Death of the Last Centaur and the Sun Singer, were given settings of their own by his collaborator John Gregg. The district is described as a fine example of the Country Place Era, when American estates joined architecture, gardens and landscape. Allerton gave the property to the University of Illinois in 1946, and it now operates as a park and conference center.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"John Borie (gardens, 1902); John Gregg (later gardens and settings); Joseph Llewellyn (House-in-the-Woods, 1917)","architectural_style":"Late nineteenth and twentieth Century Revival: Georgian Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Owned by the State and used as a park and conference center; the mansion, Gate House and House-in-the-Woods now serve as lodging, and the greenhouse was converted to a visitor center in 1977. Some sculptures have suffered from weather or vandalism.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:37.24383-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/90/8938/28893890/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/07000701.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000701/8ff8ddcf20-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/07000701/8ff8ddcf20-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"D. Finnigan","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allerton_House_(The_Farm).jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">D. Finnigan</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Allerton_House_(The_Farm).jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28893890","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Allerton_Park","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q2896269"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/piatt-county/allerton-robert-estate-07000701/"}