Thomas D.

Church

Anthony DelRosario Natural Landscape and Built Form Professor Mark Thomas Master in Preservation Studies Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Fig. 1: Thomas D. Church

Thomas Dolliver Church is credited with originating an approach to landscape design that would become known as the California Style where the garden became an extension of the house, an outdoor living room. The Mediterranean-like climate of the coast of California from San Francisco to San Diego provided the perfect setting to entertain outside.

Early Life and Education

Thomas Church was born on April 27, 1902 in Boston, Massachusetts to Albert and Wilda Church. Shortly after, the family moved to southern California. When his parents separated, he moved to Oakland with his mother and sister. In 1918, Church enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley where his mother coached drama. He started as an undergraduate studying law as his grandfather had. However, after taking a History of Landscaping in the College of Agriculture he changed his major and graduated with a Landscape Architecture degree in 1922.

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

During his studies at Berkeley, Church became interested in southern California houses and gardens of the 1920s built in the Italian and Spanish traditions, often within an English garden setting. (Laurie, xii) Church enrolled in the Graduate School of Design at Harvard University to further his education. There he won the Sheldon Travel Scholarship which he used to visit gardens in Italy and Spain for six months. These travels provided the material for his thesis, A Study of Mediterranean Gardens and Their Adaptability to California Conditions (1926-1927). (Messenger, 130) In the similar Mediterranean and California climates, Church saw the need of the conservation of water and the use of native and drought tolerant plants to create a beautiful compact and clearly defined garden that did not require major maintenance. (Laurie, xii) With this thesis, Church showed his rejection of the Beaux-Arts tradition that was taught at Berkeley and at Harvard.

Early Career
After graduating from Harvard and travelling in Europe, Church taught at Ohio State for two years. In 1929, he returned to California where he taught at the University of California, Berkeley and worked with Oakland landscape architect Floyd Mick. Church inspired his students to move beyond the Beaux-Arts tradition. One was Garret Eckbo who also went on the Harvard University Graduate School of Design where he led the Harvard Revolution along with Dan Kiley and James Rose. Church received his first major job in 1929 as the landscape designer of Pasatiempo Country Club and Estates (Fig. 2) which fellow Berkeley professor William

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Wurster was planning for golfer Marion Hollins (Fig. 3). In his first large assignment, Church demonstrated his great sensitivity to site conditions. (Messenger, 130)

Fig. 2: Aerial view of Pasatiempo

Fig. 3: Marion Hollins at Pasatiempo

Church opened his own office in San Francisco in 1932. During this time he designed mostly small gardens in San Francisco and promoted the garden as an outdoor living space, which Fletcher Steele described as early as 1924. (Messenger, 130) Church was not the first nor the only designer of the time to subscribe to this theory, but he was probably the one designer most responsible for the wide application of it in northern California. (Messenger, 130) In the early 1930s, Church had little competition. According to Theodore Bernardi, a later partner of William Wurster, Church had no competitors until he brought them up through his teaching at Berkeley. (Treib, 23)

Influence of Modernism
In 1937, Church returned to Europe with his wife Betty, who called the trip his investment in himself, and his friend William Wurster. (Hardie) There he wished to study the work of Le Corbusier and Alvar Aalto, a Finnish architect and designer. Aalto and his wife were known for the designs of chairs and vases based on a biomorphic

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

curve, most notably the series of vases (Fig. 4) for the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki. (Treib, 55) During a visit to Aaltos studio, Church saw the design for Villa Mairea (Fig. 5) which included a swimming pool that was shaped like a kidney. (Treib, 55) Aaltos influence inspired Church to adopt more relaxed, informal and natural garden plans. (Hardie)

Fig. 4: Savoy vase by Aalto

Fig. 5: design for Villa Mairea by Aalto

Also in 1937, Church and Wurster collaborated of a project for the Contemporary Landscape Architecture sponsored by the San Francisco Museum of Art. (Treib, 53) The two said that project entitled Holiday (Fig. 6) might be a pavilion and beach in some mirage, with thought released from actualities and needs. (Treib, 53)

Fig. 6: Holiday by Church and Wurster

Fig. 7: Sullivan Garden

Church began experimenting with forms and angles after his enlightening trip to Europe and his designs took a marketed leap toward modernity. (Treib 30) With his
Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

design for the Sullivan Garden (Fig. 7), Church created a garden with a less linear appearance combined with low maintenance. (Messenger, 134)

Fig. 8: Demonstration Gardens, Golden Gate Exhibition

In 1939, Church created a demonstration gardens for the Golden Gate Exhibition (Fig. 8) in San Francisco. This design featured meandering lines and a wide variety of paving materials to embody new formal vocabularies that tested the limits of his residential work. (Treib, 30) The central axis was abandoned of multiplicity of viewpoints, simple planes, and flowing lines. (Laurie, xiii) Church used texture & color and space & form as a cubist painter to create the multiple viewpoints.

Effects of World War II

The war years greatly affected the practice of landscape architects. The market for residential gardens evaporated as economic resources of clients were strained and access to materials was restricted. (Treib 27) Landscape architects turned to housing projects for jobs. Churchs first significant housing project was Valencia Gardens with

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

which he worked with Wurster on a design that was sympathetic to climatic conditions so that courtyards received sunlight without winds. (Messenger, 134) Churchs major project during the war years was a project in San Francisco for Metropolitan Life Insurance known as Parkmerced, housing project for military families. The planned neighborhood was laid out with a central plaza with streets radiating out forming pie-shaped blocks (Fig. 9). Church the designed the open areas along the streets as well as the many landscaped patios upon which every living room faced (Fig. 10).

Fig. 9: Aerial view of Parkmerced

Fig. 10: Interior courtyard at Parkmerced

Donnell Garden, Embodiment of California Style

In the late 1940s, Church designed what would become one of the most well known 20th century gardens. With the help of brilliant assistants such as Douglas Braylis and Lawrence Halprin, Church developed a design for El Novillero which is better known by the owner and clients name, the Donnell garden. The site, which had no buildings when Church was commissioned, was in the middle of a cattle ranch in Sonoma County, overlooked the rolling hills and salt marshes of Sonoma Valley, and

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

contained groves of Quercus agrifolia, the native California live oak. With this garden, the influence of Aalto showed through the kidney shaped pool (Fig. 12). Church also called for a biomorphic sculpture to sit in the middle of the pool (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11: Donnell Garden pool

Fig. 12: Donnell Garden pool from bathhouse

Fig. 13: View of valley from Donnell Garden

Fig. 14: Lanai interior with glass panel doors

This garden embodies the California style, where the garden becomes a functional extension of the house, an outdoor living room. The bath house and lanai (Fig. 14) feature glass panel doors that create a sense of connection between the indoors and outdoors. Also, the garden extends visually to the countryside beyond (Fig. 13).

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

The 1950s and Beyond

During the 1950s, Church took on several large scale projects. With Eero Saarinen, he designed a high-style modernist landscape with a well-defined rectilinear plan for the General Motors Technical School (Fig. 15) in Warren, Michigan. He was also the landscape architect for U.S. embassies in Havana, Cuba and Rabat, Morocco.

Fig. 15: General Motors Technical School

Fig. 16: Gardens are for People

Church was also master planner for the campuses of several schools such as University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Santa Cruz, Harvey Mudd College, and Stanford University where he worked on a campus designed originally by Frederick Law Olmsted. Also, in 1955 Church published his book Gardens are for People (Fig. 16) that included the essence of his design philosophy Unity, Function, Simplicity, and Scale and much practical advice.

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Conclusion
Thomas Church influence on landscape architecture continues today. His garden plans were not just a limited vision of the garden as a solitary element. He instilled the ideas of transition of house to garden, transition of garden to surroundings, uses of space, maintenance, use of native and exotic plants, and visually pleasing forms. (Messenger, 139)

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Sources
Church, Thomas Dolliver, Grace Hall, and Michael Laurie. Gardens are for People. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. Hardie, Raymond. "He Changed the Landscape."
<http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2003/janfeb/features/church.html>.

Messenger, Pam-Anela. "Thomas D. Church: His Role in American Landscape Architecture." Landscape Architecture 67.2 (1977): 128-139. Treib, Marc. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. San Francisco: William Stout Publishers, 2005.

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

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LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Image Credits
Figure 1 Lakewold Gardens, <http://lakewoldgardens.org/history.html> Figure 2 Julian P. Graham, Julian P. Graham Historical Photographic Collection Figure 3 Julian P. Graham, Julian P. Graham Historical Photographic Collection Figure 4 Aalto.com, <http://aalto.com> Figure 5 Richard Weston. Alvar Aalto. Phaidon Press, 1995. Pg. 86. Figure 6 Contemporary Landscape Architecture (1937). The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. San Francisco: William Stout Publishers, 2005. Pg. 54. Figure 7 Gardens are for People. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. Figure 8 EDA, UCB. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. Pg. 29. Figure 9 Tom Fox, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, < http://tclf.org> Figure 10 Marc Trieb. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. Pg. 28. Figure 11 Marc Trieb. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. Figure 12 Charles Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, < http://tclf.org> Figure 13 Marc Trieb. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. Pg. 38. Figure 14 Marc Trieb. The Donnell and Eckbo Gardens : Modern Californian Masterworks. Pg. 48. Figure 15 Michigan SHPO National Register of Historic Places file photograph

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

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LNSP 3300 - Natural Landscape and Built Form Mark Thomas December 8, 2010

Figure 16 Gardens are for People. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995. Cover.

Anthony DelRosario Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture