Graceland Cemetery Debuts Visitor-Friendly Entryway Designed to Breat…

Graceland Cemetery’s new entry plaza is designed to lure people into the 120-acre green space. (Patty Wetli / WTTW News)

For 160 years, Graceland Cemetery has low-key been one of Chicago’s great green spaces.

Scratch the low-key part.

The cemetery’s trustees are now leaning into Graceland’s use as a public park — a use that came to the forefront in the early part of the COVID-19 pandemic — and are literally throwing open the gates, debuting a new entryway designed to draw people in rather than keep people out.

The uninviting asphalt driveway and parking areas that formerly discouraged curious passersby have been replaced with a cheery pedestrian plaza, plantings and a soaring iron gateway arch.

“It was cars first, not people. Now it’s more like a college campus,” said Doug Hoerr, founding partner of Hoerr Schaudt, the firm tapped to design the entrance.

“I see this as the foyer or forecourt. It’s a portal. You take a deep breath coming out of the city…