Around 1910, Colonel George and Nelle Fabyan hired famed landscape architect, Taro Otsuka, to design a small Japanese garden near the Fox River on their Riverbank Estate in Geneva. In 2010, Preservation Partners celebrated the Fabyan Japanese Garden's centennial anniversary with a koto concert in the garden, tea ceremonies (yes, we are trying to bring those back!), and traditional Japanese flower arranging demonstrations. The PrivateBank (now CIBC) donated funding for some of the event so that it was free to the public. Preservation Partners partned with Friends of Fabyan and the Geneva Garden Club--both instrumental in the preservation and rehabilitation of the garden since 1972--to put together a lovely celebration.
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SOURCES: "Garden Takes Center Stage for its Centennial Year," Advocate (Fall 2010): 6; "Celebrate Japanese Garden's 100th," Geneva Republican, September 9, 2010.