This is a story of eccentric vs. follies. Lovers of landscape architecture and landscape architecture history have long been fascinated by two specific styles that are both fun and whimsical. The first, Eccentric gardens, are a favorite for gardeners who enjoy whimsy and an English garden setting to their garden. The second, Folly gardens, have been around since the 16th century and really picked up popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. They were especially popular in French and English gardens. However, with this article, we don’t have to travel to Europe to show you examples of these gardens. We can look right in our backyard of Indiana and find some good examples of both types that will help you to distinguish them and impress your friends with your knowledge of landscape architecture.
On the northwest side of Indianapolis, there is a garden that has one eccentric quality about it. There are many, many concrete figurine heads lying around in places you would not expect to see them. Some on fence posts, some quietly lurking around the corner of the house, some quietly watching upward from potted plants. All of them have one thing in common – they have no body to them. All that exists is the broken head of concrete statues. I asked the owner of the garden, “What was your inspiration to collect the heads of statuary?” his answer was, “I didn’t want them to go into a landfill. I also think they are something that no one else collects and they are conversation starters.”
Another eccentric garden piece is located on the northeast side of Indianapolis. Its main feature is a chessboard. You might be saying to yourself, so what, a chessboard. However, this is a life-sized chessboard with huge kings, bishops, and knights you can move over a large chessboard made of concrete steppingstones on the ground. The chess pieces are made of a resin material that makes them light enough to move around and actually play chess, but heavy enough to not be knocked down by heavy winds.
The Folly garden started as decorative accents to large estates in Europe in the late 16th century. They gained popularity in the 18th and 19th century with Stowe and Stourhead gardens in England and Versailles in France. Temples, abbeys, and towers were all hugely popular. The folly was never intended to be a working building or livable structure. It was mainly symbolic of the virtues of rural country life. A building on another estate was left unfinished to symbolize that knowledge is never complete.
However you view a folly, you might be interested to know that here in Indiana we have Folly gardens. The first is one that is most popular, Holliday Park, located on the north side of Indianapolis. The Holliday Park ruins are of the St. Paul building at 220 Broadway in New York City owned by Western Electric. The building ruins are only replicas, but the sculptures The Races of Mankind are from the actual building. Taking a walk around the ruins and listening to the water feature is very calming.
Another north side private folly garden is on the grounds of Westerly. Formerly owned by Allen Clowes, a Greek temple stands overlooking the grounds. While it is not the typical standard for a folly, it’s not in ruins, it still is an example of a folly. The estate was donated to the Indianapolis Museum of Art several years ago and if you are lucky to get to visit the home, make sure you seek out this serene temple placed among the towering trees.
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