page_title: Robert Allerton Park
section_title: Chinese Maze Garden
hierarchical_section_title: Robert Allerton Park / Gardens / Chinese Maze Garden
caption_attribution_description: English: This is one half of the Chinese Maze Garden. The shrubs are trimmed to grow in a manner suggesting a maze.
context_page_description: The Robert Allerton Park is a 1,517-acre park, nature center, and conference center located in the rural Piatt County township of Willow Branch, near Monticello, Illinois on the upper Sangamon River. The park and manor house, The Farms, are attributed to owner Robert Allerton, industrialist heir, artist, art collector and garden designer. Robert donated the complex to the University of Illinois in 1946.
  The National Park Service registered the Robert Allerton Estate as a National Historic Place on July 18, 2007. The Allerton Natural Area within the park was designated a National Natural Landmark in 1970.
  As of 2007, the park was used by approximately 100,000 visitors per year. It has been described as "a vast prairie turned into a personal fantasy land of neoclassical statues, Far Eastern art, and huge European-style gardens surrounding a Georgian-Revival mansion".
context_section_description: The Chinese Maze Garden features two sets of hedges trimmed in a variation of the ancient Chinese symbol Shou, suggesting a maze. Two large fish fountain statues purchased by Robert Allerton in Peking (now Beijing) in 1930 sit in the center of each maze. Two stair towers outside the garden wall once permitted garden visitors access to an aerial view of the Maze from the Wall Walk. Unfortunately, the towers are no longer standing today.
   A hosta garden occupies the tower sites. The wrought iron gates were designed by John Borie, and were originally located at the Brick Wall Garden.
caption: Chinese Maze Garden
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