Synopses & Reviews
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 200 gardens in Oregon and Washington, including residential, civic, and institutional landscapes. Gaiety Hollow, their purpose-built Salem home, garden, and studio is now owned by the Lord & Schryver Conservancy and open to the public. The L&S Conservancy has lovingly restored the gardens at Gaiety Hollow according to Lord & Schryver's plans. They also have restored and now maintain the gardens at Deepwood a former residence but now a public park.
Lord and Schryver met as young women and in 1929 established a highly successful landscape architecture firm in Salem; their work is acknowledged as one of the milestones in the history of garden design in the Northwest and beyond. Their firm is the only Oregon firm recognized in Pioneers of Landscape Architecture, compiled by the US 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."
Students of landscape architecture, garden design, Pacific Northwest history, ornamental horticulture, and general readers who are interested in the contributions of women to male-dominated professions will find inspiration in these pages.
About the Author
Valencia Libby gardens and lectures in Maine. She has researched and taught extensively on women's contributions to landscape design and horticulture. Libby retired as an Associate Professor of Landscape Architecture and Horticulture at Temple University. In 2004 she served as the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Landscape History in Portugal. She has authored numerous articles on landscape preservation and women's history.