Gardens Are For People

THOMAS DOLLIVER CHURCH - A CALIFORNIA DESIGN ICON

You have to admire this intrepid pioneer who helped move forward the fertile bedrock of the modernist California Style. Nationally recognized and lauded for his vision on elegant simplicity, livable gardens and native planting. His gardens were designed within the framework of practicality and aesthetic durability traits that likely exist within your own backyard today.

Church received his BA in Landscape Architecture from Berkeley and completed his graduate work in City Planning from Harvard School of Design. He worked in municipal design for a few years before endeavoring on a prolific 30 year career with his own firm whose practice maintained from the 1940s into the 1970s. He created literally thousands of designs. In his textbook worthy opus on landscape and philosophies for design, "Gardens Are for People" he outlined the four pronged approach: Unity, Function, Simplicity and Scale. Church stated "a garden should have no beginning and no end," and his vision suggested these spaces should be enjoyable from any perspective not just from the house.

You know when you watch a gardening show or read a piece invoking "outdoor rooms" for your garden? One of his ideas. These discrete sub-areas, habitable garden spaces, feel comforting and sheltering, yet nevertheless are designed specific visions for our outdoors, spaces otherwise previously cluttered in mismatched motifs, or devoid of intrigue with vast green rectangles and plants you'd see in a hospital hallway. Outdoor rooms were novel in the '40s, and have fortunately maintained their cool factor today. The spaces have a way about negotiating transitions between inside and outside like an extension of the home, not the yard. I personally enjoy the fruits of Church's design inspiration within my own backyard, where I've arranged sitting, cooking and lounging areas within defined zones purveying outdoor kitchen and dining room qualities. Church found that adding organic footpaths, usable in-a-practical-sense asphalt and simple stone features will frame perspectives and guide user behavior and interest.

Former Sunset editor Walter Doty said of Thomas "Tommy" Church, "[He] represented freedom from 'decorating' a house," adding, "Landscaping had meant gussying up structures that weren't worth it. Tommy was a 'behavioral' landscaper . . . gardens to live in were more important." I love that last statement, "gardens to live in," placing the design onus on livable as a characteristic for one's outdoor spaces.

Over a prolific thirty-year career, Church designed over four thousand private gardens and landscape areas. His legacy of back-of-the-envelope design articulated ideas into larger frameworks. For instance, Church jotted a simple design for the Stanford campus that banished vehicles to perimeter lots, a feature that holds today, notable within the dominant bike and pedestrian friendly interior. Most campuses echo this design, including my own Alma Mater, Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo.

One still appreciates Church's enduring legacy on the Stanford campus at White Plaza and the Kennedy Grove. There are still plenty of places to find Church's works, easily searchable online. Some especially great California designs are found listed below.

FAMOUS SPACES

Thomas Church Plan of the Decker McAllister Garden - PCAD — Thomas Church Plan of the Decker McAllister Garden - PCAD

Church's better known California designs include:

The Donnell Garden (Sonoma, CA)
Parkmerced (SF, CA)
Valencia Public Housing (SF, CA)

Your California design reference and inspiration shelf should include Church's still available (3rd edition) book on landscape design on Amazon, "Gardens Are for People." Many thanks to the talented and excellent landscape writer and photographer Melissa Clark for providing use of her wonderful images.

Donner House - PCAD — Donner House - PCAD

Blog & Writing Mission

Californian’s are the lovers of nature, of exploring the great unknowns, the contemporary, innovative designs and unique spaces. Get away from the beige stucco boxes. Seek the places, designs, foods and cultural mileposts embodying the best of California.

The Californist aims to present favorite hot spots, tastes and experiences worthy of our readers time.

We are a west coast cultural repository. An enthusiast for anachronism and mid century design. We'll also examine things not made or found in California, but nonetheless echo its call.

Nature

No question a primary motivation for most people moving to California. The diversity of California wilderness is phenomenal. Here you get what most entire countries bring, yet within a single state. From craggy snow-capped Sierras, to endless oceanic horizons, expansive deserts and towering redwood forests. California maintains 9 of the 59 National Parks and they're visited by millions worldwide, every year. We also have 118 state parks and countless county and city parks. Protecting, promoting, expanding and maintaining public lands is a passion for the Californist.

Food Culture

Living in California means embracing its southern boundary. Mexican culture underpins everything throughout California. The colors, patterns, familial pulses infuse California with a unique American-Mexican heritage. Mexican food is a way of life here. We embrace hole-in-the-wall establishments and the bare knuckle hard earned localism that has created the Californian Mexican food mythos. Embrace the mom and pop cash-only shops where the noble effort of ordering in Spanish is worth the challenge.

Craft beer also has a strong west coast role, running stride with the formidable California wine industry. We embrace this beer haven emergence. You'll find local craft beers in every California region, including San Diego with Ballast Point, Petaluma with Lagunitas, San Luis Obispo with Firestone Brewing, dozens of local craft breweries in nearly every city.

The various troves and varieties of California cuisine, from food trucks, restaurants and dishes you make yourself fuel the colorful California appetite.

Design

The patterns, contrasts, grammars and styles of Californian design march with undeniable vibrancy. Rugged Southwest style collides with geometric Mexican and Asian palates. Where a fearlessness for sparkling hues and simple natural and mid-century modern conveys honest sophistication. Sleek, crisp lines holding the energy. Think: thrift store Pendleton's, Mexican serape throws and the strong, honest edges of a teak and steel Nelson bench.