An account of eminent women landscape architects who flourished in the golden age of country estates. This beautiful book covers in depth the work of six designers Beatrix Farrand, Martha Hutcheson, Marian Coffin, Ellen Shipman, Ruth Dean, and Annette Hoyt Flanders and looks at a dozen other less-well-known women. It focuses on the Long Island projects that constituted a large part of their work and brings these pioneering women to life as people and as professionals.
Modernity was critically important to the formation and evolution of landscape architecture, yet its histories in the discipline are still being written. This book looks closely at the work and influences of some of the least studied figures of the era: established and less well-known female landscape architects who pursued modernist ideals in their designs. The women discussed in this volume belong to the pioneering first two generations of professional landscape architects and were outstanding in the field. They not only developed notable practices but some also became leaders in landscape architectural education as the first professors in the discipline, or prolific lecturers and authors. As early professionals who navigated the world of a male-dominated intellectual and menial work force they were exponents of modernity. In addition, many personalities discussed in this volume were either figures of transition between tradition and modernism (like Silvia Crowe, Maria Teresa Parpagliolo), or they fully embraced and furthered the modernist agenda (like Rosa Kliass, Cornelia Oberlander). The chapters offer new perspectives and contribute to the development of a more balanced and integrated landscape architectural historiography of the twentieth century. Contributions come from practitioners and academics who discuss women based in USA, Canada, Brazil, New Zealand, South Africa, the former USSR, Sweden, Britain, Germany, Austria, France and Italy. Ideal reading for those studying landscape history, women’s studies and cultural geography.
Describes Shipman's remarkable life and fifty of her major works, including the Stan Hywet Gardens in Akron, Ohio; Longue Vue Gardens in New Orleans; and Sarah P. Duke Gardens at Duke University. Richly illustrated, this expanded edition reveals her ability to combine plants for dramatic impact and create spaces of the utmost intimacy.
Often viewed as nostalgic and inauthentic, the work of early preservationists has frequently been underrated by modern practitioners. Rather than considering early preservation within its historical context, many modern preservationists judge their predecessors' work by contemporary standards, ultimately negating their legacy. In Design with Culture: Claiming America's Landscape Heritage, Charles A. Birnbaum and Mary V. Hughes present an introduction along with eight essays by well-known landscape historians that effectively argue against this diminution. By revisiting planning studies, executed works, and critical writings from the years 1890-1950, these authors uncover the holistic stewardship ethic that drove pioneering landscape preservation advocates, revealing their goal to be the imaginative transformation, as much as the conservation, of material culture. The essays, which range from accounts of the professional contribution made by such figures as Charles Sprague Sargent and Frederick Law Olmsted to consideration of the roles played by women's clubs and New Deal government programs, portray the spirit and tenacity of the early preservationists. In their focus on the transformation of entities such as Mount Vernon and the White House, as well as the rural countryside along the Blue Ridge Parkway, early preservationists anticipated several key issues--such as tourism, ecological concerns, and vehicle access--that confront practitioners today. Birnbaum and Hughes illustrate not only the similarity of experience between early and modern landscape preservationists but also the immense impact that their decisions had and still have on our daily lives. For landscape architects, architects, planners, amateur and professional gardeners, conservationists, preservationists, and anyone with an interest in history, travel, and national parks, Design with Culture will prove an indispensable resource for understanding the history of landscape preservation. Contributors: Charles A. Birnbaum, Mary V. Hughes, Catherine Howett, Phyllis Andersen, Thomas E. Beaman Jr., Elizabeth Hope Cushing, David C. Streatfield, Cynthia Zaitzevsky, Ethan Carr, and Ian Firth
The only monograph to chronicle the life and work of one of the most important figures in American landscape architecture. Beatrix Farrand, the only female founder of the American Society of Landscape Architects, is one of the most important landscape architects of the early twentieth century. Today the scope of her work and her influence on the profession are widely acknowledged, and her gardens are being studied, restored, and opened to the public. A long-awaited updated edition of the 2009 definitive monograph, Beatrix Farrand: Garden Artist, Landscape Architect chronicles the life and work of one of the most important figures in American landscape architecture. Born into a prominent New York family (she was Edith Wharton’s niece), Farrand designed lavish gardens for the leaders of society, including the Harknesses, the Rockefellers, and the Blisses. Ultimately, her portfolio extended to college and university campuses, including Princeton, Yale, and the University of Chicago, and public gardens, the Santa Barbara Botanic Garden and the Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden among them. Her best-known design is the landscape at Dumbarton Oaks in Washington, D.C., originally a private residence with extensive grounds and now a research center for Harvard University surrounded by a naturalistic park restored and maintained by the National Park Service. Deeply influenced by the English garden designer Gertrude Jekyll, Farrand was known for broad expanses of lawn with deep swaths of borders planted in a subtle palette of foliage and flowers. In her public work, she adapted this design strategy to create paths and plantings that define the character of the space and the hecirculation through it. Heavily illustrated with archival images and photographs of her gardens at their peak—many taken especially for this book, Beatrix Farrand: Garden Artist, Landscape Architect also displays beautiful watercolor wash renderings of her designs, now preserved at College of Environmental Design of the University of California at Berkeley. The new edition includes updated images that reflect the current state of gardens including the Peggy Rockefeller Rose Garden at the New York Botanical Garden, the International House Courtyard at the University of Chicago, Garland Farm (Farrand’s last home and garden, which has recently been restored), Dumbarton Oaks, Dumbarton Oaks Park (which was not included in the first edition), among others. The book concludes with a comprehensive list of Farrand’s commissions and the gardens open to the public, providing direction for further study and exploration. It also features a new preface outlining the milestones in research since the first edition's publication, updated details about ownership and renovations of many properties, and a revised bibliography including articles and books published over the past ten years. Published to coincide with the 150th anniversary of Farrand's birth and written by landscape historian and preservation consultant Judith B. Tankard, Beatrix Farrand: Garden Artist, Landscape Architect takes readers on a tour of Farrand’s finest works, celebrating her influence on succeeding generations of women landscape architects.
While many fields struggle to specify feminine contributions, the work of women has always played a fundamental role in American landscape architecture. Women claim responsibility for many landscape types now taken for granted, including community gardens, playgrounds, and streetscapes. This collection of essays by leaders in the discipline addresses the ways that gender has influenced the history, design practice and perception of landscapes. It highlights women's relation to landscape architecture, presents the professional efforts of women in the landscape realm, examines both the perception and experience of landscapes by women, and speculates on ways to re-imagine gender and the landscape.
The Routledge Companion to Women in Architecture illuminates the names of pioneering women who over time continue to foster, shape, and build cultural, spiritual, and physical environments in diverse regions around the globe. It uncovers the remarkable evolution of women’s leadership, professional perspectives, craftsmanship, and scholarship in architecture from the preindustrial age to the present. The book is organized chronologically in five parts, outlining the stages of women’s expanding engagement, leadership, and contributions to architecture through the centuries. It contains twenty-nine chapters written by thirty-three recognized scholars committed to probing broader topographies across time and place and presenting portraits of practicing architects, leaders, teachers, writers, critics, and other kinds of professionals in the built environment. The intertwined research sets out debates, questions, and projects around women in architecture, stimulates broader studies and discussions in emerging areas, and becomes a catalyst for academic programs and future publications on the subject. The novelty of this volume is in presenting not only a collection of case studies but in broadening the discipline by advancing an incisive overview of the topic as a whole. It is an invaluable resource for architectural historians, academics, students, and professionals.
Paradise Planned is the definitive history of the development of the garden suburb, a phenomenon that originated in England in the late eighteenth century, was quickly adopted in the United State and northern Europe, and gradually proliferated throughout the world. These bucolic settings offered an ideal lifestyle typically outside the city but accessible by streetcar, train, and automobile. Today, the principles of the garden city movement are once again in play, as retrofitting the suburbs has become a central issue in planning. Strategies are emerging that reflect the goals of garden suburbs in creating metropolitan communities that embrace both the intensity of the city and the tranquility of nature. Paradise Planned is the comprehensive, encyclopedic record of this movement, a vital contribution to architectural and planning history and an essential recourse for guiding the repair of the American townscape.
Constructed in 1919, OHEKA CASTLE, Long Island's largest Gold Coast mansion, was once described by the New York Times as the finest country house in America. Enrico Caruso sang in its grand ballroom, and Arturo Toscanini lifted his baton to its soaring ceiling. Appearing as the mysterious mountaintop castle in the opening scenes of the film classic Citizen Kane, its majestic edifice and meticulous grounds continue to dazzle the screens of major Hollywood movies and television shows. It was a playground for the rich and famous of the Gilded Era, when heads of state, royalty, stage and screen stars, great comedians, and bohemians alike cavorted about its great halls. In subsequent years, it became home to an eclectic array of occupants, including New York City sanitation workers, World War II radio trainees, military school cadets, and eventually vandals and squatters. After its abandonment and descent into unrecognizable ruin, a Long Island developer with an appreciation for history reversed the adverse effects of time and neglect, transforming OHEKA into the largest restored home in America.
