The year draws down.  Yesterday was warm.  I decided to take a walk alongside the Fox River, to visit the  FABYAN ESTATE which is close to my neighborhood.  The day was gray, damp, unpropitious for photography.  Determined anyway, I took my camera.

The Fabyans, George and Nellie lived here from 1908 until 1939.  George inherited has fathers textile business, Bliss Fabyan & Co.  With the millionaire fortune they developed this 300 acre parcel of land which they called Riverbank.  The estate contained a Japanese Garden, private zoo, Roman-style swimming pool, greenhouses, gardens, grottoes, a lighthouse, a Dutch-style windmill, a country club, a small farm and a scientific laboratory complex.   I would like to have known the Fabyans.

The property was quiet, with just a few runners, and several families with kids out for some fresh air.  I walked around the Japanese garden, closed for the season, yet I could see enough to satisfy my appreciation of the landscaping artistry.  The house was closed.  I walked around the perimeter several times, paying attention to the sculpted concrete seating which was placed to capture best views of the river and a view of the house.  I imagined Colonel Fabyan seated, smoking a cigar absorbing the vista of the land and flowing river.  (I don’t know if he smoked)

If the silhouette of the house reminds you of Frank Loyd Wright design, that is because Wright redesigned the house in 1908.  It is a mid 1800s farm house redesigned by Wright to add a south wing, three verandas, and large eaves to achieve a cruciform modestly Prairie-style country house.  Up close the house shows the weather-wear of a hundred years of time, but is still impressive.  By today’s standard it is no mansion.  The structure shows good taste though.  It appears to be approximate in square footage to the house that I now occupy.

Only a small portion of the work of George and Nellie Fabyan remain in preserved condition on their property.  Do we not touch something of their time, the turn of the century from the 1800s to the twentieth century by attending to what is left behind, for contemplation?  Do we not touch something of the vision, the exuberant interest of George Fabyan when we consider the Japanese Tea House Garden which he was instrumental in creating, and as we walk around the boathouse that remains beside the river?

They belonged to this land as did every other generation before them.  I too, hope to belong to my own piece of earth not far distant from the Fabyan estate.

The Kane County Forest Preserve owns the land which it maintains.  The house is a museum.