With time and teamwork, Yerkes Observatory shines brightly once again.
It took only two years to build Yerkes Observatory. But it will require a projected 10 years to renew, reclaim, and refurbish the building and grounds after more than a century of wear and tear, environmental damage, and deferred maintenance. Yerkes has commissioned a talented team of architects, landscape designers, artisans, and crafts and trades people to complete this awesome task. Many of them are local professionals and contractors, proud to be part of the effort to revive a community and international treasure.
Building
Beautifying a Beaux Arts masterpiece.
Building renovations have been ongoing since Yerkes Future Foundation took possession of the observatory from the University of Chicago in 2020, with replacement of weathered bricks on the front and rear parapets a priority. Decorative terracotta stonework on the front of the parapets is irreplaceable, so masonry crews have been removing the stones, marking them by location, storing them and then replacing them after the brickwork is repaired.
Additional exterior work included replacing the roof and skylights, and constructing a new, expanded parking lot with EV charging stations.
Inside the building, fresh paint has already brightened the entrance rotunda and an all-new electrical system has been installed. Other work in progress: converting former offices to public program and exhibit space; updating restrooms to ADA standards; refinishing hardwood floors and polishing Carrara marble walls; and decorating with new contemporary furniture, lighting, and fixtures.
The Great Refractor telescope inside the dome will receive a major tune-up, restoring it to a period-correct, historic standard for new programs. The observatory’s two small-dome reflecting telescopes will also receive technology upgrades for student and public use.
Grounds
Rooted in the original plan.
Teaming with noteworthy horticulturalists and arborists from across the Midwest, we have expanded on our 1906 Olmsted Plan by modernizing our ecological practices in a reimagining of the internationally-accredited arboretum. Over four miles of trails have been blazed through the revitalized prairies and woodland bluffs. We added a five-hive apiary, pollinator meadow, and oak savannas. The observatory, now running completely on solar power, has a rain runoff system flowing underground to a sylvan ravine of native species.
Planting new trees and clearing out invasive species was our first step. Many of the trees specified in the Olmsted plan are remarkably still in place, but some diseased ones have been removed. Trees not a part of the original design will be left as they are if healthy. Landscapers have made a commitment to procure replacement trees from area arboretums.
According to a Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources survey in the 1980s, at least seven state record trees graced the park-like campus. Today, only one survives: our cherished Kentucky yellowwood. Our revived landscape welcomes nature lovers to a whole new spread of wonders in the spirit of the Olmsted Brothers.
Future
A lens into tomorrow.
Stars do not stand still. Galaxies are perpetually on the move. And Yerkes Observatory has begun a new trajectory. In 2020, the University of Chicago graciously donated the observatory to the Yerkes Future Foundation. This wondrous gift sets in motion an ambitious plan to reimagine Yerkes as an open campus for open minds.
Yerkes will once again ask the question at the heart of all exploration: What’s out there? Only now, the field will encompass not only space, but also the arts, community life, music, recreation and more.
Imagine retreating to Yerkes to read or write. To visit on a warm summer’s night to hear your favorite band. To take a tour of the planets with an astronomer guide. To get married on the lakeshore or hold your rehearsal dinner in one of the observatory’s stately halls. To take a photography seminar or a painting class. To savor dinner and drinks in the dome with Wisconsin’s culinary artists.
By design, Yerkes will be a work in progress. We welcome community and guests from around the world not just to visit, but to lend ideas and imagination to our evolution.
