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The Northwest Gardens of Lord and Schryver
Foreword by Bill Noble
Published in Cooperation with the Lord & Schryver Conservancy
Lord & Schryver, the first landscape architecture firm founded and operated by women in the Pacific Northwest, designed more than two hundred gardens in Oregon and Washington, including residential, civic, and institutional landscapes. Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver met as young women and in 1929 established their highly successful firm in Salem; their work is acknowledged as one of the milestones in the history of garden design in the Northwest and beyond. Theirs is the only Oregon firm recognized in Pioneers of Landscape Architecture, compiled by the National Park Service. The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes them as “consummate professionals in the broadest sense, as they worked to raise the profile of landscape architects by involving an audience beyond their clients. Their work represented a transition from a formal symmetrical style of garden design to one which responded in a distinctive way to the unique features of Northwest climate, soil, topography, and plant material.”
Gaiety Hollow, their purpose-built Salem home, garden, and studio, is now owned by the Lord & Schryver Conservancy and is open to the public. The conservancy has lovingly restored the gardens at Gaiety Hollow according to Lord & Schryver’s original plans. They have also restored and now maintain the gardens at Deepwood, a former residence that is now a public park.
Students of landscape architecture, garden design, Pacific Northwest history, ornamental horticulture, and general readers who are interested in the contributions of women to once male-dominated professions will find inspiration in these pages.
Learn more about Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver at lordschryver[dot]org
Published in Cooperation with the Lord & Schryver Conservancy
Lord & Schryver, the first landscape architecture firm founded and operated by women in the Pacific Northwest, designed more than two hundred gardens in Oregon and Washington, including residential, civic, and institutional landscapes. Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver met as young women and in 1929 established their highly successful firm in Salem; their work is acknowledged as one of the milestones in the history of garden design in the Northwest and beyond. Theirs is the only Oregon firm recognized in Pioneers of Landscape Architecture, compiled by the National Park Service. The Cultural Landscape Foundation describes them as “consummate professionals in the broadest sense, as they worked to raise the profile of landscape architects by involving an audience beyond their clients. Their work represented a transition from a formal symmetrical style of garden design to one which responded in a distinctive way to the unique features of Northwest climate, soil, topography, and plant material.”
Gaiety Hollow, their purpose-built Salem home, garden, and studio, is now owned by the Lord & Schryver Conservancy and is open to the public. The conservancy has lovingly restored the gardens at Gaiety Hollow according to Lord & Schryver’s original plans. They have also restored and now maintain the gardens at Deepwood, a former residence that is now a public park.
Students of landscape architecture, garden design, Pacific Northwest history, ornamental horticulture, and general readers who are interested in the contributions of women to once male-dominated professions will find inspiration in these pages.
Learn more about Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver at lordschryver[dot]org
- GenresNonfiction
256 pages, Paperback
Published October 29, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
February 7, 2022
The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver by Valencia Libby shines a light on the first two female landscape architects to have their own practice in the West. It’s a hard book for me to assess since I’m both familiar with the broad outlines of their story and I help maintain part of Lord & Schryver’s horticultural legacy.
The book captures the broad strokes well. Elizabeth Lord, daughter of an Oregon supreme court justice and governor, meets Edith Schryver, daughter of a Pennsylvania Dutch restauranteur, on a trip to Europe to visit prominent architectural sites. Both women attended the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, a residential landscape architecture school for women, and quickly became good friends. After the tour, they stay in touch and decide to open their own landscape architecture practice in Elizabeth’s hometown of Salem OR. The year was 1929.
For the next forty years, the firm of Lord & Schryver designed over 200 public and private landscape, including homes, schools, colleges, and public parks in Oregon and Washington. The two women also devoted considerable philanthropic attention, both together and individually, to Salem’s built environment. Lord, for example, served on the early Salem Parks Commission, advocated for street tree planting, and had a considerable influence on the design of Oregon’s capital complex. They were founding members of the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver is at its best, not surprisingly, when it dives into the details of their landscape design. The women’s professional papers are archived at the University of Oregon and author Valencia Libby makes good use of their availability by providing many drawings of their landscape design.
Lord & Schryver were part of a painterly tradition in garden design, with a focus on scale, color, seasonality, and texture. They were also true landscape architects and sited structures, completed grading plans, and drew elevations and construction details. Both women supervised construction activities on site. Schryver was the more technically accomplished and drew grading plans, construction documents and details while Lord developed complex planting plans and managed the business.
Surprisingly, the personalities and lives of Elizabeth and Edith don’t really come through in the book. There are a few excerpts from letters and other sources that hint at their voices, but not enough to create an impression. They were lively women: they ran their own business, supervised contractors, summered annually at the Oregon Coast with other elite society members, and travelled frequently. They also spurned the conventions of marriage and child-raising. But on these matters, Libby has little to share.
If you have an interest in garden history, the history of landscape architecture, the history of women in horticulture, or the history of Oregon, you will enjoy The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver.
The book captures the broad strokes well. Elizabeth Lord, daughter of an Oregon supreme court justice and governor, meets Edith Schryver, daughter of a Pennsylvania Dutch restauranteur, on a trip to Europe to visit prominent architectural sites. Both women attended the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, a residential landscape architecture school for women, and quickly became good friends. After the tour, they stay in touch and decide to open their own landscape architecture practice in Elizabeth’s hometown of Salem OR. The year was 1929.
For the next forty years, the firm of Lord & Schryver designed over 200 public and private landscape, including homes, schools, colleges, and public parks in Oregon and Washington. The two women also devoted considerable philanthropic attention, both together and individually, to Salem’s built environment. Lord, for example, served on the early Salem Parks Commission, advocated for street tree planting, and had a considerable influence on the design of Oregon’s capital complex. They were founding members of the Oregon Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects.
The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver is at its best, not surprisingly, when it dives into the details of their landscape design. The women’s professional papers are archived at the University of Oregon and author Valencia Libby makes good use of their availability by providing many drawings of their landscape design.
Lord & Schryver were part of a painterly tradition in garden design, with a focus on scale, color, seasonality, and texture. They were also true landscape architects and sited structures, completed grading plans, and drew elevations and construction details. Both women supervised construction activities on site. Schryver was the more technically accomplished and drew grading plans, construction documents and details while Lord developed complex planting plans and managed the business.
Surprisingly, the personalities and lives of Elizabeth and Edith don’t really come through in the book. There are a few excerpts from letters and other sources that hint at their voices, but not enough to create an impression. They were lively women: they ran their own business, supervised contractors, summered annually at the Oregon Coast with other elite society members, and travelled frequently. They also spurned the conventions of marriage and child-raising. But on these matters, Libby has little to share.
If you have an interest in garden history, the history of landscape architecture, the history of women in horticulture, or the history of Oregon, you will enjoy The Northwest Gardens of Lord & Schryver.
May 29, 2024
This is an interesting book about the landscape designing team of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver, whose firm began in 1929 and continued up until the early 70s. They designed around 200 gardens which included both private residences and public institutions. The book focuses on individual projects with detailed descriptions of the designs. The reproduction of the plans, however, are so small that it is impossible to read them (even with a magnifying glass, I tried!). This is a shame as they are obviously works of art and a full-page reproduction would have been great. The book also provides very little details about their private lives and their personalities which would have enhanced the book a great deal. Still, a good record of their brilliant work and legacy.
June 16, 2022
It received the Award of Excellence in Landscape Design and Architecture from the Council on Botanical and Horticultural Libraries Annual Literature Awards. I also judged it for the American Horticultural Society Awards. I enjoyed reading this material about two women landscape architects and their projects in the Pacific Northwest in the first half of the 20th century.
June 29, 2022
Interesting book about the architecture firm of Lord and Schryver. They started in Salem, Oregon in the 1920s and were pioneering women in their field. Lots of detail about their designs.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews