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• Collection: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey

• Title: Gaiety Hollow, 545 Mission Street, Salem, Marion, OR
• Other Title: Elizabeth Lord & Edith Schryver’s Home Garden
• Creator(s): Historic American Landscapes Survey, creator
• Related Names:
     Lord, Elizabeth
     Schryver, Edith
     Smith, Clarence L.
     Matthews, Laurie , historian
     Matthews, Laurie , delineator
     Stevens, Chris , transmitter
• Date Created/Published: Documentation compiled after 2000
• Medium: Measured Drawing(s): 2
  Data Page(s): 47
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. (http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html)
  
• Call Number: HALS OR-5
• Repository: Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.pnp/pp.print
• Notes:
  • 1st Place Winner - 2013 HALS Challenge: Documenting the Cultural Landscapes of Women
  • Significance: Gaiety Hollow is part of Gaiety Hill/Bush's Pasture Park Historic District, a primarily residential 143-acre district provides examples of architectural styles from the period of significance (1878-1938) that corresponds to Salem’s development as a city. The district is significant as “it contains an exceptionally well-preserved aggregation of houses and gardens which illustrate the evolutionary development of a neighborhood adjoining downtown and original town plat.” It is also significant for its association with many notable figures in Salem and because “it contains the city’s largest concentration of houses and gardens resulting from the collaborative efforts of Clarence L. Smith, leading local exponent of period residential architecture in the 1920s and 1930s, and the outstanding landscape architectural firm of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver.” As stated in the Gaiety Hill/Bush’s Pasture Park Historic District 1986 nomination: “Of major significance to the historic district is the private and public gardens of the Oregon pioneer landscape architectural firm of Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver. Their contribution to the neighborhood displays some of the finest works of that firm, and the gardens designed and executed by them retain the integrity of their original creation and pattern. Considered one of the milestones in the history of Northwest garden design was the 1929 founding of the firm of Lord and Schryver in Salem. They were the first women landscape architects in the Northwest. Elizabeth Lord, daughter of William P. Lord, Chief Justice of Oregon’s Supreme Court (1880-1894) and Governor of Oregon (1895-1899), and Edith Schryver, a Hudson River Dutch from the East Coast, were both educated in New England. Lord graduated from the Lowthrope School of Landscape Architecture, Groton, Mass. [in 1928]. Schryver graduated from [the Lowthorpe School in 1923]. She then worked for the prestigious firm of Ellen Shipman in New York City…. The two women met in the 1920s in Europe on a tour of estates and gardens. Lord suggested that Schryver join her in Oregon to establish a landscape firm, with Schryver concentrating on design and construction and Lord specializing in plant composition. The landscape firm of Lord and Schryver brought to Oregon an intellectual Eastern command of craft and style, combined with an instructive sense of landscape taste unknown in Oregon during this period. For the next four decades, the office designed and supervised work in Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, and Salem. Though the volume of work was comparatively small, the quality was consistently high…. In addition to their work in landscaping, the two women provided much public service to Salem, including the promotion of public parks, [street] tree planting [plans], the Capitol Planning Commission, the Salem Art Association, Bush Park House furnishing and park landscaping, the acquisition of Deepwood by the city, the Marion County Historical Society, the Oregon Historical Society, etc.Wallace Kay Huntington, in an article on landscapes in Space, Style and Substance: Building in Northwest America, establishes the significance of this pioneer landscape firm, particularly as it relates to the private garden at their residence: ‘Lord and Schryver’s meticulous detailing was available to clients developing no more than a city lot, and the structural clarity of formal walk, panels of lawn, boxwood edging and allees of flowering shrubs were utilized to dignify Georgian, French Provincial or Tudor town houses. Plant composition with them was an art form – albeit fragile and transient – and in the Salem garden of Elizabeth Lord [Gaiety Hollow] we have, still surviving… a lost art. So subtle are the foliage colors and textures and so skillfully arranged is the succession of bloom that, like an impressionist painting, it may at first seem deceptively simple but upon closer examination, the incredible command and knowledge of their media – plants instead of paints – is truly stunning. Here the geometry of the compartmental scheme is at its most effective and the quality of design in arbor and fences at its classic finest. Anyone who conceives of a formal garden as being static has only to study the calculated intricacy of spatial relationships in this tour de force of garden design.” Gaiety Hollow Gaiety Hollow is significant as an outstanding example of landscape design during the Classical Revival Era of design practice. It is a designed landscape preserving the traditions of the Beaux Arts and merging them with a regional Pacific Northwest style. Gaiety Hollow is a prime example of a design where architecture and site are merged as a single entity, where the design of reciprocal relationships of scale between structures and vegetation articulate an interesting array of garden spaces and passages, where formal Colonial Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival landscape architecture design techniques are integrated with informal English cottage garden planting styles, and where a classic plant palette is combined artistically with Pacific Northwest natives. The Classical Revival Era in American landscape architecture and design included several revival movements in vogue in the United States between 1870 and 1940. The era, manifested in Colonial Revival style designs, originated in the 1870s when it coincided with the 100 year anniversary of the American Revolution and a desire to replicate the neoclassical forms of the country’s early history. Other stylistic sub-periods and trends of revival styles that gained popularity during this period included Spanish Colonial, Mediterranean Revival, and Mission Revival. In the context of landscape architecture and design this eclectic era is generally associated with the design of landscapes as an integrated whole, and with the skill of designers adept at developing groupings of plants with harmonious colors and textures which provided year round interest. The eclectic nature of the early years of the Classical Revival Era, where many architectural styles were being explored and revived, was replaced over time by a consolidation of these styles. This resulted in the domination of Neoclassical and Beaux Arts site planning principles to residential grounds. Early on these principles were only being applied to large estates that could afford the services of a small group of practicing landscape architects. As the profession grew and the number of landscape architects expanded in the early twentieth century, these design techniques were more frequently applied to smaller or more typical residential scales. The Colonial Revival style in particular could be easily adapted to smaller landscapes. Gaiety Hollow reflects a constellation of Classical Revival Era design principles imported from a distinct mixture of references, notably mirroring its middle period when landscape architects were merging principles and design styles of multiple revival styles into a cohesive whole. Colonial Revival is the dominant design style at Gaiety Hollow, with distinct nods to Spanish Colonial Revival and English Cottage style gardens, all layered with a Pacific Northwest influenced plant palette. It is due to the strength of Lord and Schryver’s landscape architecture and planting design skills that these different styles blend seamlessly in the landscape. In particular, Colonial Revival style elements at Gaiety Hollow include well-ordered geometric gardens, precisely laid walks, planting beds with crisp edges, and site furnishings like pergolas and arbors. All of these design elements complement the Colonial Revival architecture of the house and reflect Schryver’s previous work with Ellen Shipman who designed many Colonial Revival style gardens for her clients. The garden also exhibits a few Spanish Colonial Revival design elements including strong axial arrangements, crisp-edged hedges, and garden rooms with water features. The formality of both the Colonial Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival styles is softened by the English cottage style plantings of Pacific Northwest climate loving plants. Although the design reflects the middle period of the Classical Revival Era, the landscape itself was completed during the later years of that era. This may be one reason why Lord and Schryver, though revered locally, never gained national prominence, as did some of their contemporaries in the East and Midwest. Though they possessed the talent of more well known landscape architects they did not seek commissions outside the Pacific Northwest, nor were they pushing landscape architecture into new territory. Their portfolio of private and public work echoed the common design paradigm of the time, and perhaps reflected the more conservative design styles of clients in the Pacific Northwest. They were not exploring new design theories, such as the emerging International or Modern styles emanating out of pre-World War II Europe. That was happening to some degree on the East Coast in the 1930s, as seen in some of the more modernist interpretations of Colonial Revival designs of Ruth Bramley Dean, a stylistic interpretation which might also be aligned with the financial realities of the Great Depression. Gaiety Hollow’s design was informed by and deftly blends influences from landscape architect Ellen Biddle Shipman’s work on the American East Coast to the gardens of England, Spain and Italy. Though many of Shipman’s designs likely influenced Edith Schryver while she worked as Shipman’s assistant, a notable example of Shipman’s Colonial Revival commissions includes Chatham Manor in Fredericksburg, Virginia. There are strong similarities between Shipman’s design for Chatham Manor and Lord and Schryver’s design for Gaiety Hollow. Gaiety Hollow’s design was also influenced by Lord and Schryver’s trip to Europe where they visited gardens in England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, with shorter trips to cities in Austria and Switzerland. Their trips to Spain, England, and Italy appear to have had the most influence on their design work for Gaiety Hollow. In Spain they visited Son Morrig and Monestir de Miramar on the island of Mallorca and the Alcazar and Generalife in Seville. Prominent views, temples and pools caught their attention on Mallorca and they no doubt took note of the incredible boxwood hedges at the Alcazar of Seville, which likely influenced their design for the hedges at Gaiety Hollow. Travels through England allowed an intimate view of many Sir Edwin Lutyens and Gertrude Jekyll gardens. What gardens they couldn’t see were no doubt glimpsed through the extensive collection of prominent garden design books of the time they bought in London, including Jekyll’s Gardens for Small Country Houses and Color Schemes for the Garden; Edith Wharton’s Italian Villas and their Gardens; and Shepherd and Jellicoe’s Italian Gardens of the Renaissance. Due to its high integrity Gaiety Hollow remains a prime example of a Classical Revival Era work of landscape architecture, especially one that blends this design style with Pacific Northwest plants and climate. The landscape’s design framework and styling deftly blends the era’s strengths into a cohesive holistic design. It is a representative product of its time as well as its designers. The Work of Masters: Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver Lord and Schryver may not have been setting out to push the boundaries of landscape architecture design theory as some of their contemporaries were doing. They were simply designing sophisticated and highly crafted residential and public landscapes in the Pacific Northwest, before any other women were doing so. In that way, they were pushing boundaries and, in the case of Edith Schryver, continuing to push the profession forward as her mentor Ellen Shipman did before her. Shipman told a New York Times reporter in 1938, “Before women took hold of the profession, landscape architects were doing what I call cemetery work…. Until women took up landscape gardening in this country [it] was at its lowest ebb… The renaissance of the art was due largely to the fact that women, instead of working over their boards, used plants as if they were painting pictures as an artist would.” Elizabeth Lord Elizabeth Lord began her landscape architecture design work in Oregon in the late 1920s. As the daughter of a foreign diplomat and the ninth Governor of Oregon, William Paine Lord, Elizabeth Lord was a well-traveled woman at a young age. Her affinity for garden design and plant knowledge, which flourished under the influence of her mother, Juliet Lord, started at their home, which was situated on a generous ¼ block parcel in Salem, Oregon. By the early 1920s, Elizabeth was actively tending her mother’s garden and won second prize in a statewide contest for an herbaceous border design. In fact, one of Lord’s main design principles – planting for continuous seasonal interest, which formed a thread throughout her career - can be traced back to this award-winning border design. At the age of 39 Lord decided to pursue her passion for landscape architecture and enrolled at the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture in Groton, Massachusetts in 1926. “She was one of only two students from west of the Mississippi.” Studies at Lowthorpe typically spanned three years and Lord graduated in 1928, about one year after she traveled to Europe with the school and met Edith Schryver, her friend and future business partner. They formed a firm in 1929 which lasted forty years. Elizabeth Lord died at age 88 in 1976 in Salem, Oregon. Edith Schryver Edith Schryver was born in Kingston, New York. She set on a path towards a career in landscape architecture at a very early age. Just out of high school, Schryver spent one year at the Pratt Institute in 1919 before enrolling at Lowthorpe in 1920 at around age 19. She graduated in 1923. She went to work full time with noted landscape architect Ellen Shipman - serving as a design apprentice to the successful landscape architect and manager for her design firm. In March 1927, Schryver was contacted by the Lowthorpe School requesting some examples of her work for an exhibit being planned in Boston and New York later in the spring. The school was reaching out to graduates and might have taken this opportunity to invite Schryver to join the upcoming trip to Great Britain, France and Italy, where she met future business partner and friend Elizabeth Lord. For the 26 year-old Schryver the trip to Europe was a sabbatical from her apprenticeship with noted landscape architect Ellen Shipman in New York City. In fact, Schryver followed in the footsteps of one of her colleagues at Ellen Shipman’s office, Ellen Louis Payson, who had completed her own European tour the year before. Upon Schryver’s return from Europe in 1927 she continued working for Ellen Shipman through 1928, perhaps aligning with the time Lord needed to finish her education at Lowthorpe. In total Schryver worked for Ellen Shipman for about six years beginning in 1922 and ending in 1928. She worked primarily in New York City, but also in Shipman’s office in Cornish, New Hampshire that was Shipman’s base during the summer. In addition to serving as a landscape designer, Schryver played a managerial role at Shipman’s firm, demonstrating a capacity to run day-to-day office operations and manage client projects simultaneously. Shipman would often travel to New York City to touch base with her staff. Schryver’s experience at one of the most prominent landscape architecture practices in the country provided her with exposure to both a successful professional office environment and outstanding design work, and likely played a tremendous role in the success of the Lord and Schryver firm. Edith Schryver left Shipman’s firm in 1928 for Salem, Oregon where in 1929 she founded the firm, Lord & Schryver with her partner Elizabeth Lord. Edith Schryver retired in 1970, and died fourteen years later at the age of 83 in 1984 in Salem, Oregon. Lord & Schryver Lord and Schryver announced the opening of their firm on January 1, 1929. For three years, the women worked from the Lord family property at 796 High Street in Salem. In 1932, Lord and Schryver moved around the corner to Gaiety Hollow on Mission Street, a property also owned by the Lord family. Here, the partnership’s new offices and living quarters were constructed to suit their needs, including a garden that would evolve over a period of several years. The firm’s work can be divided into three areas: their landscape architectural design work, their publications, and their educational endeavors. Examination of Lord and Schryver’s architectural drawings shows that 83 percent were for residential projects and 17 percent were for public/non-residential projects. The partnership’s work style demanded a close relationship and understanding between the client and the firm, and the freedom to exercise their evolving design principles in the field. Often, the client relationship lasted for many years, one of the hallmarks of the firm’s practice that set it apart from other offices of the day. Notable residential projects of Lord and Schryver include their home and office of Gaiety Hollow, the Jarman Garden (Spanish style), the Robertson Garden (English style), and Historic Deepwood Estate, all located in Salem, Oregon. In spring 1932, Lord and Schryver wrote a series of articles in consecutive editions of The Sunday Oregonian which serve as a valuable resource in understanding their intentions and design process. The articles, published during the depth of the Great Depression, were written for homeowners who were considering making improvements to their gardens. Topics ranged from making a garden plan, to working with existing site topography and selecting appropriate plants for a perennial border. Lord and Schryver’s effort to disseminate their design ideas to the public was not unheard of among landscape architects, but does distinguish their career in many ways. Previous generations of well-known landscape architects – from Frederick Law Olmsted to Jens Jensen to Gertrude Jekyll – had published books and newspaper articles about the emerging profession of landscape architecture. In many cases a landscape architect or architect’s success is heightened if their design ideas or works are published. Lord and Schryver may have understood this and sought to expand their practice and sphere of influence by publishing their design guidelines, especially during this period of economic austerity. In addition to the published works, in the late 1930s, Lord and Schryver also used radio as a medium to communicate with lay audiences about the landscape architecture profession. They wrote scripts for a weekly program, “The Home Garden Hour,” aired on KOAC, addressing topics such as trees for the home property and design of a suburban lot. Their use of radio demonstrates an ability to connect with a wider lay-audience than their predecessors, which both legitimized their practice and allowed them to educate potential clients. Lord and Schryver also maintained a relationship with the academic world through participation in Lowthorpe programs of various kinds. For example, Elizabeth Lord and Edith Schryver contributed drawings in 1931 to a traveling exhibition of student and professional work of women landscape architects who had studied at Lowthorpe and the Cambridge School. “The traveling Exhibition and Lecture Series went on for many years, and was considered to be a significant success.” In Oregon, Lord and Schryver maintained academic connections by teaching at the Oregon State Agricultural College, now known as Oregon State University. Lord and Schryver accepted fewer and fewer commissioned projects in the years after 1947. By 1969, their firm’s operations ceased, neither member being in good enough health to continue the practice. Both women maintained several of their professional and social memberships in their advanced age.
  • Survey number: HALS OR-5
  • Building/structure dates: ca. 1932 Initial Construction
  • National Register of Historic Places NRIS Number: 86002849
• Subjects:
  • Spanish Colonial Revival architectural elements
  • garden rooms
  • women
  • landscape architecture drawings
  • landscape architecture facilities
  • landscape architecture drawings
  • landscape architecture drawings
  • landscape architecture drawings
  • landscape architects
  • gardens
  • residential gardens
  • pergolas
  • lawns
  • parterres
  • allées
  • paths
  • patios
  • benches
• Place:
  • Oregon -- Marion -- Salem
• Latitude/Longitude: 44.932806, -123.039886
• Collections:
  • Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscapes Survey
• Part of: Historic American Landscapes Survey (Library of Congress)
• Bookmark This Record:
     https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/or0613/

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• Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. http://www.loc.gov/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
• Reproduction Number: ---
• Call Number: HALS OR-5
• Medium: Measured Drawing(s): 2
  Data Page(s): 47

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• Call Number: HALS OR-5
• Medium: Measured Drawing(s): 2
  Data Page(s): 47

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