{"nrhp_refnum":"91000795","name":"Jensen, Jens, Summer House and Studio","other_names":["See Also:Jensen, Jens, House and Studio"],"category":"district","location":{"address":"930--950 Dean Ave.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Highland Park","county":"Lake County","state":"IL","lat":42.17002110300007,"lon":-87.77803682399997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1991-06-19","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Landscape Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A landscape architect's summer house, studio and surviving designed grounds at 930 and 950 Dean Avenue in the Ravinia area of Highland Park, Lake County, Illinois. Jens Jensen bought the land around 1908, and the house was built sometime between 1908 and 1918.","why_significant":"The nomination presents the Summer House and Studio as the residence and office most closely associated with Jens Jensen's design career. Jensen developed his design ideas here and built his first council ring on the site, which he used as an artistic signature. Remaining stonework, the clearing and some plantings are cited as evidence of his work.","narrative":"This Highland Park property in the Ravinia area of Lake County, Illinois, includes a one-story, L-shaped Shingle Style summer house with intersecting gables and a separate studio building on a wooded ravine site. Landscape architect Jens Jensen bought the land around 1908 and called it \"The Clearing.\" The house was probably built between 1908 and 1918, and he lived in Chicago and spent summers here. After 1920 he lived in Wilmette, and the studio became his working office until he retired to Wisconsin in 1934. The property matters because Jensen developed and expressed his design ideas here. He built his first council ring on the slope of a ravine, a circular stone seating form that became his artistic signature. The surviving clearing, stonework, rocky ledge, bird feeding station and some plantings still show his approach. The nominated area excludes a 1950s ranch house and a vacant lot lacking significant landscape features.","period_of_significance":null,"architect_builder":"Jens Jensen","architectural_style":"Shingle Style (with Tudor overtones)","criteria":[],"status_note":"The current function is listed as vacant. An earlier inventory sheet rated the condition as fair and noted a 1970 rear addition. A garage intrusion and a 1950s ranch house stand nearby.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:35.943193-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/96/8912/28891296/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_IL/91000795.pdf"},"photo":null,"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/28891296","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jens_Jensen_Summer_House_and_Studio","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q6179715"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/illinois/lake-county/jensen-jens-summer-house-and-studio-91000795/"}