Mabel Keyes Babcock (May 20, 1862 – December 3, 1931) was one of America's early women landscape architects. She taught at

Wellesley College Wellesley College is a Private university, private Women's colleges in the United States, historically women's Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Wellesley, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1870 by Henr ...

and the

Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture The Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture is the shorthand name for a school that was founded in Groton, Massachusetts in 1901 for women to be trained in landscape architecture and horticulture. Under its original name of Lowthorpe School ...

before going on to become Dean of Women Students at the

Massachusetts Institute of Technology The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a Private university, private research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Established in 1861, MIT has played a significant role in the development of many areas of moder ...

Early life and education

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts, on May 20, 1862, Mabel Keyes Babcock was the daughter of botanist Henry H. Babcock and Mary Porter (Keyes) Babcock. She was a descendant of William Bradford, the governor of

Plymouth Colony Plymouth Colony (sometimes spelled Plimouth) was the first permanent English colony in New England from 1620 and the third permanent English colony in America, after Newfoundland and the Jamestown Colony. It was settled by the passengers on t ...

. Both of her parents were involved in education: Henry was for a time the principal of Somerville High School in Massachusetts, while Mary, after Henry died, became the headmistress of Kenilworth Hall, a girls' school in the Chicago area. Babcock got her undergraduate degree from

Northwestern University Northwestern University (NU) is a Private university, private research university in Evanston, Illinois, United States. Established in 1851 to serve the historic Northwest Territory, it is the oldest University charter, chartered university in ...

in 1889. Twenty years later she resumed her education at the

, from which she received a B.S. degree in 1908 followed by an M.S. in architecture in 1909. MIT was said to be the only institution offering this qualification to women at that time. At MIT, she had studied with

Guy Lowell Guy Lowell (August 6, 1870 – February 4, 1927), was an American architect and landscape architect. Biography Born in Boston, Boston, Massachusetts, Lowell was the son of Mary Walcott (Goodrich) and Edward Jackson Lowell, and a member of B ...

Career

From 1910 to 1914, Babcock taught horticulture and landscape architecture at Wellesley College while also maintaining a solo landscape architecture practice. She spent World War I as a conservation instructor and director of agricultural courses at the recently founded

in Massachusetts. During the war, she also served on the central committee of the MIT War Service Auxiliary. She went on to serve as the president of the MIT Women's Association from 1916 to 1920, an appointment that eventually led to her taking up the post of Dean of Women Students at MIT. As a landscape architect, Babcock may be best known for her landscaping of the

Arlington Street Church The Arlington Street Church is a Unitarian Universalist church (building), church across from the Boston Public Garden, Public Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. Because of its geographic prominence and the notable ministers who have served the co ...

and her design of the MIT President's Garden and Great Court (now Killian Court), where her work expanded on that of Elizabeth Greenleaf Pattee. Babcock planned a French-style gravel-covered court centered on a large statue of Minerva. However, when increasing traffic along Massachusetts Avenune shifted the campus's de facto entrance, the great-court design was replaced with streetside plantings of privet, oak and maple trees, and other plantings that would create a transition from the busy streets surrounding the campus to a quieter oasis within. MIT had only moved to its current location in 1916, and Babcock went on to become involved in the landscape design of the entire campus. Babcock served as a technical adviser on the landscape program at

Bates College Bates College () is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Lewiston, Maine. Anchored by the Historic Quad, the campus of Bates totals with a small urban campus which includes 33 Victorian ...

in Maine and designed several areas of the campus. She also did landscape design for a number of private clients in Maine. It is possible that she may have been involved in landscaping the campus of Wellesley College. She was a member of the American Society of Landscape Architects and the Boston Society of Landscape Architects. She was also a member of President Herbert Hoover's Conference on Home Building and Home Ownership. Babcock died in Boston on December 3, 1931.

References

External links

"Very Much Part of the Landscape: Mabel Keyes Babcock" on Mabel Keyes Babcock's contribution to landscape architecture
{{DEFAULTSORT:Babcock, Mabel Keyes 1862 births 1931 deaths American landscape architects American women landscape architects People from Somerville, Massachusetts MIT School of Architecture and Planning alumni Northwestern University alumni Wellesley College faculty