http://oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf938nb4jf Online items available Thomas D. Church Collection, 1933-1977 Processed by the Environmental Design Archives staff Environmental Design Archives College of Environmental Design 230 Wurster Hall #1820 University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-1820 Phone: (510) 642-5124 Fax: (510) 642-2824 Email: [email protected] http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/ © 1999 The Regents of California. All rights reserved. Note Arts and Humanities--ArchitectureHistory--California History--Bay Area HistoryHistory--California HistoryGeographical (By Place)--CaliforniaGeographical (By Place)--California--Bay AreaGeographical (By Place)--University of California--UC BerkeleyGeographical (By Place)--University of California--UC Santa CruzHistory--University of California History--UC Berkeley HistoryHistory--University of California History--UC Santa Cruz History Thomas D. Church Collection, 1997-1 1 1933-1977 Thomas D. Church Collection, 1933-1977 Collection Number: 1997-1 Environmental Design Archives University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California Contact Information: Environmental Design Archives College of Environmental Design 230 Wurster Hall #1820 University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, California, 94720-1820 Phone: (510) 642-5124 Fax: (510) 642-2824 Email: [email protected] URL: http://www.ced.berkeley.edu/cedarchives/ Processed by: Environmental Design Archives staff Date Completed: January 1999 Encoded by: Campbell J. Crabtree Funding: Arrangement and description of this collection was funded by the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning and by a grant from the Getty Foundation. © 1999 The Regents of the University of California. All rights reserved. Descriptive Summary Collection Title: Thomas D. Church Collection, Date (inclusive): 1933-1977 Collection Number: 1997-1 Creator: Church, Thomas Dolliver, 1902-1978 Extent: 114 boxes, 9 flat boxes, 29 tubes, 8 flat file drawers Repository: Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California Language: English. Access Collection is open for research. Publication Rights All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator. Preferred Citation [Identification of item], Thomas D. Church Collection, (1997-1), Environmental Design Archives. College of Environmental Design. University of California, Berkeley. Berkeley, California Access Points Garden structures. Landscape architects--California. Landscape architecture--California. Thomas D. Church Collection, 1997-1 2 1933-1977 Campus planning--California--Berkeley. Campus planning--California--Santa Cruz. Gardens. Stanford University--Buildings and grounds. University of California, Berkeley--Planning. University of California, Santa Cruz--Planning. Wurster, William Wilson, 1895-1973 Caddes, Carolyn, 1935- Partridge, Rondal. Parker, Maynard L. Biography Thomas "Tommy" Dolliver Church was born in Boston but grew up in San Francisco, where he worked as a landscape architect for more than fifty years. He is credited with being the creator of the "modern garden." He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley and Harvard. Following graduation in 1922, he traveled extensively in Europe on a Sheldon Travelling Fellowship. Upon his return to the United States, he began teaching landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley. He returned to practice in 1929 and three years later opened his own office in San Francisco at 402 Jackson Street where he practiced until his retirement in 1977. During the 1930s, Church and his wife Betsy also ran Cargoes, a retail furniture store in San Francisco which featured the designs of their friend Alvar Aalto. Church's design approach combined with the local natural environment and economic climate of the 1930s through the 1970s to lead to the development of what became known as the California style. Church designed gardens primarily for the expanding middle class, both in cities and in the rapidly developing suburbs of the Bay Area. In addition to the residential gardens that make up the majority of his work, Church designed larger scale open space for housing, industrial plants and hospitals, and was consultant to Stanford and the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz. Church's designs were much publicized by a number of popular home and garden journals, primarily Sunset magazine. His philosophy and principles of design were spelled out in two books, Gardens Are For People (1955, reprinted in 1983) and Your Private World (1969). Among Church's most important works were the Dewey Donnell garden, El Novillero, in Sonoma, California (1948), done with Lawrence Halprin, who was then working in his office; the beach garden of Mr. and Mrs. O. Martin, Aptos, California (1948); the General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan (1956); portions of the campuses of Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley and Santa Cruz; and Longwood Gardens in Pennsylvania. During the course of his practice, Church collaborated with numerous architects including William Wurster and Gardner Dailey. He also influenced many young landscape architects. Garrett Eckbo, Robert Royston and Lawrence Halprin all worked in Church's office during the early stages of their careers. His awards include the Gold Medal of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Fine Arts Medal of the American Institute of Architects. Sources: Mann, William A. "Landscape Architecture: An Illustrated History in Timelines, Site Plans, and Biography." John Wiley and Sons, Inc. New York. 1993. Laurie, Michael. "Thomas D. Church, Landscape Architect." Unpublished article. Scope and Content The Thomas D. Church collection documents over two hundred of Church's projects through textual records, drawings and photographs. The collection is arranged in four series: Office Records, Project Records, Display Boards, and Additional Donations. The office records include correspondence relating to prospective (uncompleted) projects, subject files that contain photographs and clippings of landscape details and structures, public relations files and exhibit boards. The public relations files include correspondence regarding the publication of Church's work and photographs of Church projects. The exhibit boards also feature photographs, as well as drawings. Additional photographs are located with the project files. The bulk of the collection is comprised of project records. Arranged alphabetically, they consist of correspondence, plant lists, reports, clippings, photographs and drawings. Many project files include pre-construction site photographs. Records of Church's major projects form a large part of the series, including the General Motors Technical Center (Warren, Michigan, 1956), numerous sites for the Caterpillar Company (Illinois, 1958-62), Longwood Gardens (Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, 1971-75), Stanford University (Palo Alto, 1949-76), and University of California, Santa Cruz (1962-75). The Dewey Donnell garden, his most acclaimed project, is also documented. The third series consists of multimedia display boards from the retail store Cargoes, illustrating projects Church collaborated on with William Wurster and Gardner Dailey. The bulk of the collection was transferred from Church's office in 1998, and their original order has been maintained. Blueprints and photographs donated separately are included in the final series. A project list is available in the Archives. Thomas D. Church Collection, 1997-1 3 1933-1977 Title: Theodore C. Bernardi Collection, Identifier/Call Number: 1991-1, Contributing Institution: Environmental Design Archives Title: Photographs Related to Thomas Dolliver Church, Identifier/Call Number: BANC PIC 1979.121, Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library Title: Thomas D. Church, Landscape Architect (1978), Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library Regional Oral History Office Title: Thomas Church, landscape architect and related material, Identifier/Call Number: BANC MSS 77/97, Contributing Institution: The Bancroft Library Title: Wurster, Bernardi, and Emmons Collection, Identifier/Call Number: 1976-2, Contributing Institution: Environmental Design Archives Boxes 1-11 I. Office Records, ca. 1942-1977 A. Prospects Scope and Content Note Arrangement Arranged alphabetically by geographical region. Contains a few sketches and correspondence between Church and prospective clients. B. Public Relations Scope and Content Note Arrangement Arranged by record type, alphabetically within. Correspondence, photographs, and a small number of clippings related to the publication of Church's work, articles by Church, and articles about him. C. Photographic Subject Files Scope and Content Note Arrangement Arranged alphabetically. Consists primarily of photographs, with clippings and printed material also included. Images of landscape structures and details predominate. Thomas D. Church Collection, 1997-1 4 1933-1977 I. Office Records, ca. 1942-1977 D. Photographs D. Photographs Scope and Content Note Arrangement Arranged alphabetically. Photographs of completed projects as well as portraits and photographic studies taken during foreign travel. E. Exhibit Boards Scope and Content Note Mounted photographs and drawings of projects created for exhibitions and presentations. F. Carolyn Caddes Files Scope and Content