Thomas Church | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1902-04-27)April 27, 1902 |
| Died | August 30, 1978(1978-08-30) (aged 76) |
| Occupation | Landscape architect |
Thomas Dolliver Church (April 27, 1902 – August 30, 1978) was a 20th centurylandscape architect based inCalifornia.[1][2] He is a nationally recognized as one of the pioneerlandscape designers ofModernism ingardenlandscape design known as the 'California Style'.[3][4] His design studio was inSan Francisco from 1933 to 1977.
Thomas Church was born inBoston, and raised in California, inOjai andOakland.[3]
He received hisB.A. degree inLandscape Architecture from the College of Agriculture at theUniversity of California, Berkeley in 1922.[1][5] He then attended theHarvard Graduate School of Design, where he received hismaster's degree in City Planning and Landscape Architecture in 1926.[1][3]
After graduating, Church spent six months at theAmerican Academy in Rome on a Harvard awarded Sheldon Traveling Scholarship.[1] He also traveled throughout Europe, and while in France became friends withCatherine Bauer, with whom he would later teach at Berkeley.[6] He studiedItalian Renaissance gardens, andMoorish andIberian RenaissanceSpanish gardens, observing their responses to a climate so similar theMediterranean climate in California. On returning from Europe he worked in a city planning office on the East Coast (1927–1928), then he taught atOhio State University (1928–1930).[1][3]
He returned to theSan Francisco Bay Area in 1930, and was a Special Lecturer in the UC Berkeley Department of Landscape Architecture for the remainder of that year.[1][3] He also went into private practice in 1930 to design thePasatiempo Estates in the Santa Cruz area, withSecond Bay Tradition style architectWilliam Wurster.[3] A 1937 trip was made toFinland, where seeing new modernist works and site planning byAlvar Aalto was influential to his design evolution.[3]
He moved to San Francisco in 1932 and established his practice in The city. Church opened his own design studio in 1933, at 402 Jackson Street inSan Francisco. He continued to practice there until his retirement in 1977. His own distinctive garden and residence were on Hyde Street, in theRussian Hill, San Francisco district.
Church was a longtime contributor toArchitectural Forum,House Beautiful, andSunset magazines, bringing his design ideas with examples to his design peers and the public.[1][3]
As of 1943, Church was aSocialist.[7]
In 1951 Church was awarded the Fine Arts Medal, for Landscape Architecture, by theAmerican Institute of Architects.[1] In 1973, Church was elected to theNational Academy of Design, as an Associate Academician. He was also awarded theRome Prize for his work in landscape architecture by the American Academy in Rome.
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When Church started practicing, theNeoclassical style was still the predominantlandscape design style. Thomas' design education at UC Berkeley and Harvard, along with his travels to gardens in Europe, gave him ample training in Classical and Renaissance garden traditions. However, Church is renowned as a pioneer in American landscape architect for introducing theModernist architecture andart movements into landscape design.[2] After WW II, other designers added to what later became known as the "California Style" of gardens. Some of them apprenticed in his design studio, includingRobert Royston andLawrence Halprin.
Church outlined four principles for his design process in his 1955 bookGardens Are For People.[8] They are:
Church used the Modernist design principles for freedom of elements, such as the forms of spaces and features, and a sense of movement. When possible, he favored creating multiple viewpoints, instead of a traditional single axis. "A garden should have no beginning and no end," he wrote inGardens Are for People, "and should be pleasing when seen from any angle, not only from the house."[3] He could also use historicist design principles when the site called for it, such as the formal lines of the Memorial Courtyard (1965) beside theSan Francisco Opera House.
Another design element Church is renowned for is the "outdoor room," creating sub-areas for outdoor living as distinct places within the whole landscape. They were different than those ofItalian Renaissance gardens with a separation of house and garden, his outdoor rooms interacted with the house, with a free flow between the two[3]
"Tommy represented freedom from 'decorating' a house," said formerSunset editor Walter Doty, shortly before Church's death. "Landscaping had meant gussying up structures that weren't worth it. Tommy was a 'behavioral' landscaper . . . gardens to live in were more important."[3]
The majority of Church's work was residential, and he reportedly designed over 2,000 private gardens in California and 24 other states.[3] Notable residential works include the now iconic landscape design ofEl Novillero (Donnell Gardens) for the Donnell Residence (1947–1948), overlooking the winding salt marshes of the North Bay inSonoma County, California.[4][9] Others include theMrs. Clinton Walker House inCarmel-by-the-Sea, California,[10] and theBloedel Reserve andLakewold Gardens in Washington state.
He also worked on a number of larger non-residential landscape commissions. He worked on campus master plans forUC Berkeley,Stanford University,UC Santa Cruz,Harvey Mudd College,Woodside Priory School, and theWascana Centre in Saskatchewan. He designed the grounds of theEmbassy of the United States, Havana, theGeneral Motors Research Laboratory inDetroit (1949–1953), theDes Moines Art Center, the Hotel El Panama inPanama City, theMayo Clinic in Minnesota, andParkmerced (1941–1951) in southwestern San Francisco.
He was the landscape design consultant toStanford University for 30 years, beginning in the late 1940s. He served on the Stanford Architectural Advisory Council from 1960 to 1978, that President J.E. Wallace Sterling created.[3] "Church was trying to put a layer of continuity around the original buildings and the new (ones), he was working on a (campus) landscape that was meant to tie all this together."[3]
Thomas Church died on August 30, 1978, at the age of 76, inRussian Hill, San Francisco.[11]
Thomas Church had a long, distinguished, and productive career with over 4,000 projects, as a Landscape Architect.[4] He also wrote several influential and popular landscape design books, includingGardens Are for People (1955) andYour Private World: A Study of Intimate Gardens (1969).[12]
The Post-warModernistgarden design style, first in California and soon influential across the United States, was created and developed by a small group oflandscape designers, of which Thomas Church was the "first founder."[2] The subsequent founders and practitioners of the Modern California Landscape includeGarrett Eckbo,Robert Royston,James C. Rose, andDan Kiley.[2]
