Gardens Are For People

The title of this book makes me chuckle – isn’t it evident that gardens are for people? But, from a historical perspective, this has not always been the case. Gardens have been long been functional for growing food and medicinal herbs, a retreat for the wealthy and privileged, and a means to display power and status. It is fairly recent that gardens have become havens for common folks, and even more recently that the California garden emerged as an independent style. Gardens are for People was written by Thomas (Tommy) D. Church in 1955, and is now in its third edition, published by University of California Press (Berkeley, Los Angles, and London).

Church lived from 1902 – 1978. He studied landscape architecture at University of California, Berkeley, traveled throughout Europe for six months after his graduation in 1922, and then taught landscape architecture at UC Berkeley after his return. He obtained a Master’s degree from Harvard University in 1927; his Master’s thesis is titled “A Study of Mediterranean Gardens and Their Adaptability to California Conditions”. He opened a landscape architect company in San Francisco, which operated from 1929 to 1977. He wrote about and photographed gardens, and collaborated with many of the best architects of his time. Some of his projects include the Exposition Gardens on Treasure Island (1940), and many private gardens, and university, public, and corporate landscapes spanning his career.

Church is considered by some to be the father of the California style– integrating the house and garden, landscaping for indoor-outdoor living, and using existing trees and natural features in the landscape design. His projects range from small townhouse gardens to large, sprawling landscapes. His work was influenced by Italian, Spanish, and Islamic gardens–where home and garden are integrated–and adapted for the California climate, geology, and flora. The book provides insight into some of his guiding landscape principles, including scale, line, beauty, function, and the owner's desires. The book includes many photos of his projects. To learn more about some of his 1100 projects, see: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/tf938nb4jf/.