The Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture is the shorthand name for a school that was founded in

Groton, Massachusetts Groton is a town in northwestern Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, within the Greater Boston metropolitan area. The population was 11,315 at the 2020 census. An affluent bedroom community roughly 45 miles from Boston, Groton has a ...

in 1901 for women to be trained in

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 ...

and

horticulture Horticulture (from ) is the art and science of growing fruits, vegetables, flowers, trees, shrubs and ornamental plants. Horticulture is commonly associated with the more professional and technical aspects of plant cultivation on a smaller and mo ...

. Under its original name of Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, Gardening, and Horticulture for Women, the college was one of the first in the world to open the profession to women. In 1915 it was renamed the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women, and in 1945 it was absorbed into the Rhode Island School of Design as the Lowthorpe Department of Landscape Architecture.

History

The school was founded in 1901 as Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture, Gardening, and Horticulture for Women by Judith Eleanor Motley Low, a Groton native who was either the granddaughter or great-granddaughter of Benjamin Bussey."Form A: Country Day School of the Holy Union"
Massachusetts Historical Commission. Low had spent time in her youth at the Bussey Institute at

Arnold Arboretum The Arnold Arboretum is a botanical research institution and free public park affiliated with Harvard University and located in the Jamaica Plain and Roslindale, Massachusetts, Roslindale neighborhoods of Boston. Established in 1872, it is the ...

, studying agriculture, gardening, and botany. A one-page brochure announcing the establishment of the school offered instruction in the subjects of "landscape gardening, elementary architecture, horticulture, botany and allied subjects." The brochure announced an October 1901 start date, but instruction did not actually begin until the following fall. To be admitted, a prospective student was required to have a high school diploma and some knowledge of both drawing and botany. The school's population of students ranged from single digits in the early years up to 30 or 40 in the 1930s. Instruction focused on private residential design rather than public gardens, as such work was at the time considered most suitable for women. The Groton campus included of meadows, orchards, gardens, greenhouses, and an administration building."Lowthorpe School"
Harvard University Library Virtual Collection bibliographic record."Lowthorpe School"
Smithsonian Institution SIRIS archives website The gardens were largely the work of school students and were mostly laid out in geometrical arrangements; the herb garden, for example, was in the form of an Elizabethan

knot A knot is an intentional complication in Rope, cordage which may be practical or decorative, or both. Practical knots are classified by function, including List of hitch knots, hitches, List of bend knots, bends, List of loop knots, loop knots, ...

. Although the naturalistic style of Edwardian-era English garden design (embracing both the

English landscape garden The English landscape garden, also called English landscape park or simply the English garden (, , , , ), is a style of "landscape" garden which emerged in England in the early 18th century, and spread across Europe, replacing the more formal ...

and its later variant the

cottage garden The cottage garden is a distinct garden style that uses informal design, traditional materials, dense plantings, and a mixture of ornamental plants, ornamental and edible plants. English in origin, it depends on grace and charm rather than grandeu ...

) was the prevailing aesthetic taught at the school, the more formal style of Italian landscape design was also taught and influenced how the gardens were organized.Knight, Jane Alison. "An Examination of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women, Groton, Massachusetts, 1901-1945". Cornell University Master's thesis, 1986. Lowthorpe was incorporated in 1909 and placed under direction of a board of directors with Low as president of the board. Patrons included Charles W. Eliot, President Emeritus of

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 ...

, Professor

Charles Sprague Sargent Charles Sprague Sargent (April 24, 1841March 22, 1927) was an American botanist. He was appointed in 1872 as the first director of Harvard University's Arnold Arboretum in Boston, Massachusetts, and held the post until his death. He published se ...

of the Arnold Arboretum and Professor James Sturgis Pray, Chairman of the Department of Landscape Architecture at Harvard, among others. The course curriculum was changed in 1915 from two to three years, diplomas were awarded, and the name changed to the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women, dropping the words Gardening and Horticulture from the title. In 1917, Lowthorpe fielded a baseball team called the Farmerettes. Under John Parker, Lowthorpe's director from 1934 to 1945, winter classes were taught in Boston at 491 Boylston Street. In 1945, Lowthorpe was absorbed into the

Rhode Island School of Design The Rhode Island School of Design (RISD , pronounced "Riz-D") is a private art and design school in Providence, Rhode Island. The school was founded as a coeducational institution in 1877 by Helen Adelia Rowe Metcalf, who sought to increase th ...

and became known as the Lowthorpe Department of Landscape Architecture. The stature of the school was raised when Ellen Shipman (named in 1933 by the magazine '' House & Garden'' as the "

dean of women The dean of women at a college or university in the United States is the dean (education), dean with responsibility for student affairs for female students. In early years, the position was also known by other names, including preceptress, lady pri ...

landscape architects"), in a 40-year career, reportedly would only hire graduates from Lowthorpe School. According to Catharine Filene, writing in ''Careers for Women in 1920,'' schools offering training similar to Lowthorpe included

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 ...

, the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC, U of I, Illinois, or University of Illinois) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Champaign–Urbana metropolitan area, Illinois, United ...

, the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and the

University of California The University of California (UC) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university, research university system in the U.S. state of California. Headquartered in Oakland, California, Oakland, the system is co ...

. After moving to Rhode Island, the Groton campus was sold to the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston, who in turn sold it to the Holy Union Sisters. The sisters established a convent on the site in 1946 and a day school known the Country Day School of the Holy Union in 1949."Country Day School will close in June" Nashoba Valley Voice, April 5, 2017
/ref>"LA Acquires Country Day School Property" Lawrence Academy, April 3, 2018
/ref> Country Day School closed in June, 2017, and the neighboring Lawrence Academy acquired the property in April, 2018.

Notable faculty and administrators

Josef Albers Josef Albers ( , , ; March 19, 1888March 25, 1976) was a German-born American artist and Visual arts education, educator who is considered one of the most influential 20th-century art teachers in the United States. Born in 1888 in Bottrop, Westp ...

Kirkham, Pat. ''Women Designers in the USA, 1900-2000''. * Nellie B. Allen * Mabel Keyes Babcock * Henry Atherton Frost * Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee * Bremer Whidden Pond (director) * Robert Sturtevant (faculty and director)

Notable alumni

* Edith Henderson (1911-2005, Class of 1934), practiced in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

for over 60 years. Designed the landscaping for Techwood and Clark Howell Homes, the first public housing projects in the United States. * Gertrude Kuh (Class of 1917) practiced many years in the Chicago area * Elizabeth Blodget Lord (Class of 1929) and Edith Schryver (Class of 1923) formed the Oregon firm of Lord & Schryver * Doris Katherine Raikes TurnbullSee "A 1929 student diploma" above on this page. (Classes of 1924 and 1927) from England after attending a near-

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

gardening school and then teaching gardening (and becoming fluent in French) 1921 to 1923 at La Corbière école horticole pour jeunes filles in Estavayer-le-Lac on the east shore of Lake Neuchatel in Switzerland; and after Lowthorpe a landscape architect in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

, Ilaro Court in

Barbados Barbados, officially the Republic of Barbados, is an island country in the Atlantic Ocean. It is part of the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies and the easternmost island of the Caribbean region. It lies on the boundary of the South American ...

, and then marrying and living with the plant pathologist Lawrence Ogilvie near

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. *

Jane Silverstein Ries Jane Silverstein Ries (1909–2005), also known professionally as Julia Jane Silverstein, was an American landscape architect who was the first woman licensed in Colorado as a professional landscape architect. For her landscape work as well as her ...

(Class of 1932) practiced in Denver for more than 50 years

References

{{Reflist Landscape architecture schools 1901 establishments in Massachusetts

History

Notable faculty and administrators

Notable alumni

See also

References