Thomas D. Church

Thomas D. Church

Anthony DelRosario

Natural Landscape and Built Form

Professor Mark Thomas

Master in Preservation Studies

Tulane School of Architecture

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

Anthony DelRosario – Master in Preservation Studies - Tulane School of Architecture

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.



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



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



curve, most notably the series of vases (Fig. 4) for the Savoy Restaurant in Helsinki.

(Treib, 55) During a visit to Aalto’s studio, Church saw the design for Villa Mairea (Fig.

5) which included a swimming pool that was shaped like a kidney. (Treib, 55) Aalto’s

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



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. Church’s first significant housing project was Valencia Gardens with



which he worked with Wurster on a design that was sympathetic to climatic conditions

so that courtyards received sunlight without winds. (Messenger, 134)

Church’s 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 client’s 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



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).



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.



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)

i 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.

ii 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.

Figure 12 – Charles Birnbaum, The Cultural Landscape Foundation, < http://tclf.org>





Figure 15 – Michigan SHPO National Register of Historic Places file photograph

iii 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.

Thomas D. Church

Documents

modern californian masterworks

golden gate exhibition

outdoor living room

anthony delrosario master

william stout publishers

cultural landscape foundation

donnell garden pool

san francisco