Brenda Colvin | |
|---|---|
| Born | Brenda Gwyneth Stewart Colvin (1897-06-08)8 June 1897 |
| Died | 27 January 1981(1981-01-27) (aged 83) Witney,Oxfordshire, England |
| Nationality | British |
| Occupation | landscape architect |
Brenda ColvinCBE (1897–1981) was a Britishlandscape architect, author of standard works in the field and a force behind its professionalisation. She was part of theColvin family, which had long ties to theBritish Raj.
Colvin was born in 1897 in India where her father,Sir Elliot Graham Colvin, was a senior administrator inKashmir andRajputana.[1]
Colvin received her training ingarden design fromMadeline Agar atSwanley Horticultural College[2] (nowHadlow College, which continues to teachUniversity of Greenwich courses in the subject). Agar and Colvin worked together onWimbledon Common.[3]
Colvin set up her own practice in 1922. In the early years of her career, she worked mainly on private gardens and designed nearly 300.[4]
In 1969, she was joined byHal Moggridge as partner; the firm continues under their joint names.[5]
Colvin co-founded the Institute of Landscape Architects in 1929 (later theLandscape Institute). She served on its Council for 47 years and became its president in 1951.[6][4]
Colvin wroteLand and Landscape (1947, revised 1970). In the 1960s Colvin shared an office withSylvia Crowe, later also president of the ILA (1957–1959).[7] In 1945, immediately after the end of World War II, Colvin offered a room in her Baker Street offices to Crowe from which Crowe could resume a career in private practice.[8]
Colvin designed many gardens, including one with the socialiteNorah Lindsay atthe Manor House in Sutton Courtenay, and one atBurwarton.[9]
Colvin also worked on industrial landscaping, siting factories and reservoirs,New Towns, and created landscapes around the Drakelow C Power Station and theUniversity of East Anglia.[4] One of her most historically significant garden designs still remains atAberystwyth University which is now listed,[10] the listing states "The landscaping of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth campuses, particularly the earlier Penglais campus, is of exceptional historic interest as one of the most important modern landscaping schemes in Wales...One section of the Penglais campus was designed by the well known landscape architect Brenda Colvin and is one of the very few of her schemes to have survived. A number of women have played a key role in the development and planting of the whole site."
Colvin continued her landscape practice into her eighties.[11]
Her own garden was at Filkins in theCotswolds inGloucestershire, and is now the office of Colvin and Moggridge. Sometimes the company opens it via theNational Garden Scheme.
As of 2024, only three of Colvin's gardens are known to remain.[4]
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