James C. Rose (1913–1991) was a prominent

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manage ...

and author of the twentieth century. Born in rural

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

he, his mother and older sister moved to New York after his father's death. Rose was a high school dropout, but this didn't stop him from being accepted into

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

as an architecture student. Later he transferred to

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

as a landscape architecture major. In 1937, he was expelled because his design style didn't fit into Harvard's program. In 1938 and 1939 Rose published a series of articles containing the design experiment ideas that led to his expulsion from Harvard, and Harvard asked him to return.Cardasis, Dean (1994) He later published numerous articles and books which heavily impacted design theory and practice in the twentieth century. In 1941, Rose worked for Tuttle, Seelye, Place and

Raymond Raymond is a male given name of Germanic origin. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷ� ...

in New York where he became discouraged by the limitations of large public works, and decided that working on private gardens was more suiting to his style. Despite his dislike of the institution of school, Rose would often make appearances as a guest lecturer at schools of landscape architecture and architecture. Before his death he was able to fulfill his lifelong dream of establishing a design study and landscape research center, the James Rose Center. After Rose's death from

cancer Cancer is a group of diseases involving Cell growth#Disorders, abnormal cell growth with the potential to Invasion (cancer), invade or Metastasis, spread to other parts of the body. These contrast with benign tumors, which do not spread. Po ...

in 1991, he bequeathed his home in Ridgewood to the James Rose Center.

Designs and influences

One of Rose's first major works while employed at Tuttle, Seelye, Place and Raymond was to design a staging area to house 30,000 men at

Camp Kilmer Camp Kilmer is a former United States Army camp in Central New Jersey that was activated in June 1942 as a staging area and part of an installation of the New York Port of Embarkation. The camp was organized as part of the Army Service Forces Tra ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. After this experience, Rose turned his focus to working on private

gardens A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the cultivation, display, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The single feature identifying even the wildest wild garden is ''control''. The garden can incorporate bot ...

that created an intimate relationship between human beings, nature, and

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and construction, constructi ...

. His designs also created a fusion of indoor and outdoor space. Most of Rose's later works were greatly influenced by the

Japanese garden are traditional gardens whose designs are accompanied by Japanese aesthetics and philosophical ideas, avoid artificial ornamentation, and highlight the natural landscape. Plants and worn, aged materials are generally used by Japanese garden desig ...

style; he even adopted the religion of

Zen Buddhism Zen (; from Chinese: '' Chán''; in Korean: ''Sŏn'', and Vietnamese: ''Thiền'') is a Mahayana Buddhist tradition that developed in China during the Tang dynasty by blending Indian Mahayana Buddhism, particularly Yogacara and Madhyamaka ph ...

. The time Rose spent in

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

and his many subsequent visits to

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, nurtured his fondness for Japanese gardens. Except for his home i
Ridgewood
in northeast New Jersey, not much of Rose's later works were documented because of his spontaneous design method. His designs were always open to improvisations; they were never finished and continuously transforming form one stage to another. His designs, like his home in Ridgewood, were works in progress. Rose applied a common theory to his designs and described them as “neither landscape nor architecture, but both; neither indoors, nor outdoors, but both.” Ridgewood is Rose's most documented design and is a clear example of his theories and how he applied them to his designs. On March 7, 2025, Rose's 1985 landscape design for the Texwipe corporate headquarters in

Upper Saddle River Upper Saddle River is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 8,353, an increase of 145 (+1.8%) from the 2010 census count of 8,208, which in turn reflected ...

was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

. Reflecting Rose's

Modernist Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

landscape architecture Landscape architecture is the design of outdoor areas, landmarks, and structures to achieve environmental, social-behavioural, or aesthetic outcomes. It involves the systematic design and general engineering of various structures for constructio ...

philosophies, the Texwipe design is an example of what he termed a "Corporate Forest" approach to integrating natural landscapes in to corporate campuses.

Social movements

James C. Rose was one of the pioneers of

modernism Modernism was an early 20th-century movement in literature, visual arts, and music that emphasized experimentation, abstraction, and Subjectivity and objectivity (philosophy), subjective experience. Philosophy, politics, architecture, and soc ...

in landscape architecture. While attending Harvard, Rose and his classmates,

Garrett Eckbo Garrett Eckbo (November 28, 1910 – May 14, 2000) was an American landscape architect notable for his seminal 1950 book '' Landscape for Living''. Youth He was born in Cooperstown, New York, to Axel Eckbo, a businessman, and Theodora Munn Eckb ...

and

Dan Kiley Daniel Urban Kiley (2 September 1912 – 21 February 2004) was an American landscape architect, who worked in the style of modern architecture. Kiley designed over one-thousand landscape projects including Gateway Arch National Park in St. Louis ...

, rebelled against the conventional landscape theory and designs. He refused to conform to the formal style of

Beaux-Arts architecture Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and ...

; he saw the landscapes as much more than a pastoral setting for modern buildings. Rose and his classmates fueled the social movement of modernism in Landscape architecture. They teamed up to write several articles about their cause. Through these publications in the ''Pencil Point'' magazine, now called ''Progressive Architecture'', and other later articles and books, Rose was able to spread his view on landscape theory and design. Rose also took a stand against the emerging American

suburbia A suburb (more broadly suburban area) is an area within a metropolitan area. They are oftentimes where most of a metropolitan areas jobs are located with some being predominantly residential. They can either be denser or less densely populated ...

and

urban planning Urban planning (also called city planning in some contexts) is the process of developing and designing land use and the built environment, including air, water, and the infrastructure passing into and out of urban areas, such as transportatio ...

. He believed these ordered, inorganic projects were useless for domestic living and were degrading to the environment. Rose wrote about suburbia and urban planning in his first boo
Creative Gardens
and also in several published articles.

Impact on landscape architecture

James C. Rose's greatest impact on landscape architecture was as a catalyst for the modernism movement. His influence was spread to the populace because of the emerging power of the

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

. The designs he created, though wonderful and expressive of his design theories, had less of an influence on landscape architecture than the many books and articles he wrote.

Books by James Rose

* Rose, James C. ''Creative Gardens''. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corporation; 1958. * Rose, James C. ''Gardens Make Me Laugh''. Norwalk, CT: Silvermine Publishers; 1965. * Rose, James C. ''The Heavenly Environment''. Hong Kong: New City Cultural Service, LTD; 1987. * Snow, Marc. ''Modern American Gardens''. New York: Reinhold Publishing Corp.; 1967.

Articles by James Rose

(Note: Pencil Points magazine is now Progressive Architecture.) * Rose, James C. "Are You a Plant Snob." California Arts and Architecture. April 1941; 58:30, 46. * Rose, James C. "Articulate Form in Landscape Design." Pencil Points. February 1939, 20: 98- 100. Reprinted as: Rose, James C. "Articulate Form in Landscape Design." in Modern Landscape Architecture. ed. Marc Treib. Cambridge: The MIT Press; 1991. * Rose, James C. "Bogeys in the Landscape." California Arts and Architecture. November 1940; 57: 27, 38. * Rose, James C. "Freedom in the Garden." Pencil Points. October 1938, 19: 640–644. * Rose, James C. "Freedom in the Garden." in Modern Landscape Architecture. ed. Marc Treib. Cambridge: The MIT Press; 1991. * Rose, James C. "Gardens." California Arts and Architecture. May 1940; 57. * Rose, James C. "Garden Details." California Arts and Architecture. July 1941; 58: 28–29,38-39. * Rose, James C. "The Hanging Garden." California Arts and Architecture. August 1940; 57;25, 37. * Rose, James C. "Hillside House Solves the Difficult Problem of Solar Orientation." Architectural Forum. April 1947; 86: 126–128. * Rose, James C. "House in Pasadena, California." Architectural Forum. November 1946; 85:90-93. * Rose, James C. "Idyll in Electronic Factory." Interiors. July 1963: 69–72. * Rose, James C. "Integration." Pencil Points. December 1938; 19:758-760. * Rose, James C. "Landscape Models." Pencil Points. July 1939, 20: 438–448. * Rose, James C. "Modular Gardens." Progressive Architecture. September 1947: 76–80. * Rose, James C. "My Connecticut Home and Gardens Began in Okinawa." American Home. October 1946; 36: 20–22. * Rose, James C. "1+1=5." California Arts and Architecture. June/July 1940; 57: 38, 46.

Bibliography

*Cardasis, Dean (1994). *Cardasis, Dean (2017).
James Rose
'' Amherst, MA: Library of American Landscape History; Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press *Rogers, Elizabeth Barlow (2001). ''Landscape Design; A Cultural and Architectural History,'' p. 454. New York: Harry N. Abrams Inc. *"Rose, James C.". Retrieved from the Web on 10-20-2005. https://web.archive.org/web/20041229015436/http://www.cartage.org.lb/en/themes/Biographies/MainBiographies/R/Rosejames/rose.htm *The James Rose Center (2001). The James Rose Center for landscape architecture and design research. Retrieved from the Web on 10-20-2005. http://www.jamesrosecenter.org/index.html *Tom Turner (1998). "James Rose - biographical information." Retrieved from the Web 10-20-2005. http://www.gardenvisit.com/b/rose2.htm

References

External links

LandLiving.com: "James Rose: landscape theorist, author, and practitioner"The James Rose Center websiteLibrary of American Landscape History: ''James Rose'' by Dean Cardasis
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rose, James C. American landscape and garden designers American landscape architects Modernist architects from the United States 1913 births 1991 deaths Architects from New Jersey Architects from New York (state) Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni Cornell University College of Architecture, Art, and Planning alumni People from Ridgewood, New Jersey 20th-century American architects