Landscape Aarchitectsrchitects and Landscape Architecture in Manitoba Cover Art: Don Reichert, Icefog, 2005
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Catherine Macdonald MAKING A PLACE: A History of Landscape AArchitectsrchitects and Landscape Architecture in Manitoba Cover Art: Don Reichert, Icefog, 2005 Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Macdonald, Catherine, 1949- Making a place [electronic resource] : a history of landscape architects and landscape architecture in Manitoba / Catherine Macdonald. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-9735539-0-1 1. Landscape architecture--Manitoba--History. 2. Landscape architects--Manitoba--History. 3. Landscape design--Manitoba--History. I. Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects II. Title. SB469.386.C3M33 2005 712’.097127’09 C2005-904024-6 The Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects acknowledges with gratitude the financial assistance of the following agencies in the publication of this volume: the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation; the Department of Canadian Heritage (Winnipeg Development Agreement); The Visual Arts Section of the Canada Council for the Arts; the Province of Manitoba Heritage Grants Program; and the City of Winnipeg. TABLE OF CONTENTS 1826 Foreword by Professor Gerald Friesen 05 Author’s Preface and Acknowledgements 06 Author’s Biography 09 Abbreviations 09 1893 Chapter 1. Design by Necessity: The Landscape is Shaped 1826-1893 10 1894 Chapter 2. The City on the Horizon 1894-1940 30 Chapter 3. Prairie Modernism 1940-1962 58 Chapter 4 Establishing the Profession 1962-1972 89 Chapter 5 Riding the Economic Tiger 1973-1988 136 1940 1940 Chapter 6 Looking For the Way Forward 1989-1998 188 1962 Selected Bibliography 225 1962 1972 1973 1988 1989 1998 FOREWORD When Catherine Macdonald first asked me to read this history of landscape architecture in the province, and to give her patrons, the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects, some estimate of its potential audience, I assumed that the book would be a brief, bare-bones history of an organization. As will be apparent from the lavish display that follows, it is anything but. My first reaction is that the story of parks, campuses, historic roadways, zoos and nature preserves makes a wonderful read. I have spent several happy hours reading the manuscript and have learned a great deal about Winnipeg and Manitoba in the process. Because it provides a survey of public and landscape amenities from the late nineteenth century to the present, it can be described as a standard reference work. Moreover, given its wonderful illustrations, it will delight any reader but especially residents of the province and its capital city. I am impressed, too, by the book’s strengths as a review of professional landscape architects in the eastern prairies. To see the impact of individuals and firms on the design of public spaces, especially in the decades after 1960, is very instructive. As a testament to the strengths of planning and the contributions of a profession, the book offers a lesson in the role of advanced education within a community. This story offers so many vantage points from which to view the community. It combines effective historical research, a strong narrative and aptly chosen illustrations. I cannot imagine a more effective means of celebrating the impact of a profession on a community, or a more interesting vehicle by which to advertise the discipline itself, than by the publication of this book. Gerald Friesen Department of History University of Manitoba 5 AUTHOR’S PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Opportunities to tell the story of a fascinating profession in your home province do not come along every day. When I was commissioned in 1997 by the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects (MALA) to write a history of the landscape architecture profession in Manitoba, I jumped at the chance, full of naive enthusiasm. How hard could it be, I thought? After all, I had just finished a book on Winnipeg parks history, a related piece of work. Surely I could come to a quick understanding of what landscape architects are about and produce a brief, lucid survey of their establishment and work in Manitoba in time for the association’s 25th anniversary in 1998. Humans propose and the gods laugh. My brief, lucid survey has taken years longer than I or its sponsors expected and has hit its share of bumps in the road. And I have emerged from this journey a much humbler and wiser historian. My plan for the book could not have been more ambitious. I proposed to deal with: 1. Manitoba landscape architects; and 2. Manitoba landscapes over time in all their variety and complexity. The first category was to include the work of landscape architects in Manitoba prior to the establishment of the modern profession in the later 1960s and the evolution of the profession in the United States and Canada prior to that time; Manitoba landscape architects and landscape architectural firms since 1962 including their important projects; and the history of MALA itself and the struggles of Manitoba landscape professionals for recognition in the wider public. The second category was to include a survey of urban and rural land forms; a history of urban and open space planning issues; a brief overview of architecture and the built environment; case studies of important Manitoba landscapes like the Manitoba legislative building grounds and the University of Manitoba campus; private and public parks; gardening and horticulture; environmental concerns; urban design and downtown revitalization. 6 Not having heard about hubris, I have carried through with this plan. The organization is broadly chronological, with each chapter covering a span of time. Within the chapters the organization is thematic. (For the sake of convenience some topics extend beyond the chronological limits of the chapter in which they are located.) Chapters one, two and three are background chapters which lead up to chapters four, five and six, which cover the modern era. Though events have continued to unfold, this book ends in 1998. Since we live in a postmodern world, the book is called “a history”; it expresses one point of view among the many other points of view that exist on these matters. The opinions expressed here are completely my own and do not represent the views of the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects. The errors and omissions are also my own and I take full responsibility for them. However, I am glad to say that I have retained my enthusiasm for landscape architects and their work. Manitobans should know more about the vital contribution made by landscape architects to the fabric of life here. I hope that this book serves as an introduction. There are many people to thank. I will begin with the “elders” whose taped round-table discussion started me off on this journey: Alexander Rattray, Garry Hilderman, Gunter Schoch (who had the initial idea for the book), Charles Thomsen, and the late Carl Nelson. This group formed the first editorial committee under the chairmanship of Carl Nelson. I owe a debt of gratitude to all of them for much information, wise counsel and encouragement. They stuck with the project even as its completion edged off into the distance. Gunter Schoch must have been an archivist in a previous life because his documentation about the profession was admirably thorough. He provided me with items from his personal library as well as the boxes of MALA records and newsletters that gave me an excellent record of MALA’s activities over the years. Alexander Rattray and Garry Hilderman did much dogged work behind the scenes to maintain support for the work. Charles Thomsen and Cynthia Cohlmeyer have been the editorial committee for the publication phase of the book and I could not have asked for a more congenial and supportive team. I want in particular to thank Charles Thomsen for image hunting on my behalf and for contributing a number of original photographs. He also generously gave me access to research material that he had compiled on the careers of several practitioners, particularly that of Denis Wilkinson. 7 I am grateful to the following people who gave me the benefit of their thoughts and experiences through extended interviews: Cynthia Cohlmeyer, Donald Hester, Garry Hilderman, Ross McGowan, Ted McLachlan, Cameron Man, Alexander Rattray, Ken Rech, Michael Scatliff, Gunter Schoch, David Wagner and Laurie Lamb Wagner. I also had an enjoyable Olympic length telephone conversation with Douglas Paterson and several letters from Denis Wilkinson. I would also like to thank the members of MALA who welcomed me to their offices, put up with my questions and requests for photographs and plans, and patiently corrected manuscript drafts. My husband, Greg McCullough, should not be forgotten since he has been the source of much technical advice with respect to the digital aspects of the project and also provided some original photography. He even had some reminiscences from his own early days working in Garry Hilderman’s firm. Thanks to Gerald Friesen for reading the manuscript, for his continuing support of my career and for providing the foreword. Thanks to the Canadian Architectural Archives, University of Calgary; University of Manitoba Archives; Provincial Archives of Manitoba; Manitoba Legislative Library; and the National Archives of Canada. I would like to thank the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects for entrusting their story to me. I have done my best to deserve that trust. Last but certainly not least, both I and the Manitoba Association of Landscape Architects would like to thank the funders of the project for their generosity. Thanks to the Landscape Architecture Canada Foundation; the Department of Canadian Heritage (through the Winnipeg Development Agreement); The Canada Council for the Arts (Visual Arts Section); the Province of Manitoba Heritage Grants Program; and the City of Winnipeg. Had these agencies not understood the need to begin documenting the history of the modern landscape architecture profession while it is still vivid in the minds of the founding generation of practitioners, this book would never have been published.