Dumbarton Oaks / Heritage Landscapes

Dumbarton Oaks
Washington, DC

Dumbarton Oaks gardens are well known and widely praised as one of the most significant designed historic landscapes developed in the early 20th century Country Estate era. Noted landscape architect Beatrix Jones Farrand was commissioned to develop plans for the landscape of the Georgetown property of Robert Woods and Mildred Bliss and worked with them from 1922 to 1944. In 1941 the 16-acre property was gifted to Harvard University as a research institution while the balance of the acreage was received by the National Park Service. Additions and changes to the designed landscape continued through 1969.

In 2000 Dumbarton Oaks commissioned the Cultural Landscape Report Part I: History, Period Plans, Existing Conditions and Analysis, to study and gain a detailed understanding of the property and its physical evolution. Initial tasks focused on the review of historic documents at Dumbarton Oaks and other archives. At the same time, detailed mapping of existing conditions was undertaken. The CLR report includes history, chronology, period plans, existing conditions, and assessment elements. As the focus of the West Campus Master Plan, the siting of the proposed new Research Library and Gardener's Court was pursued with a multi-disciplinary approach. Historic landscape documentation and analysis directly influenced building siting. The character of the proposed architecture and its integration into this valued historic landscape has been informed by the vocabulary and quality of the landscape and architecture fostered by the Bliss'. In the implementation phase for the Research Library and Gardener's Court Heritage Landscapes contributed historic landscape expertise to project planning and design.

<< Back to Campuses

Client:
The Trustees for Harvard University

Project:
Cultural Landscape Report, West Campus Master Plan

Project Credits:
Heritage Landscapes with Lampl Associates Historians, CLR Part I & Partial Part II; Heritage Landscapes with Hartman Cox Architects, James Urban Landscape Architecture, West Campus Master Plan, Venturi Scott Brown Associates, James Urban and Oehrlein & Associates Research Library and Gardener's Court Implementation.