DESIGN TOUR

2026 Design Tour A Full-Day North Shore Estate Tour | Thursday, July 9, 2026
Organized by the Landscape Illinois Design Committee

Join us for an immersive day on Chicago’s North Shore — one of the region’s most celebrated landscapes for residential design. The Landscape Illinois Design Tour is a curated, all-day bus tour of six privately owned estates, each chosen to illuminate exceptional work in landscape design, engineering, construction, and long-term maintenance.

At each stop, the designers and landscape professionals behind the project will be on hand to walk attendees through their process — the design decisions, site challenges, and solutions that make each estate distinctive. These sites have been handpicked to offer a rare, behind-the-scenes perspective that no conference room can replicate.

Tour Itinerary
8:00 – 8:30 AM
Departure — Chicago Botanic Garden – Parking Lot 4

8:50 – 9:35 AM
Culliton Quinn — Private Residence, Winnetka

10:05 – 10:50 AM
Mariani — Private Residence, Highland Park

11:05 – 11:50 AM
Reflections — Private Residence, Highland Park

12:05 – 1:05 PM
Reflections — Private Residence, Mettawa

1:35 – 2:35 PM
JMR — Private Residence, Mettawa

3:05 PM – 3:15 PM
Return — Chicago Botanic Garden – Parking Lot 4

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM – Optional Tour 1: Beauty and Ecology (30-person capacity)

3:30 PM – 5:00 PM – Optional Tour 2: Unifying Design Principles (30-person capacity)

The Design Tour is developed by the Landscape Illinois Design Committee. The tour offers 5.5 Continuing Education credits for licensed Landscape Architects. Previous tours have sold out — early registration is encouraged.

Registration Fee: $175 members, $200 nonmembers (includes lunch and refreshments) 
Limited to 100 people, so register early!