More than Trees and Flowers: The History of the Department of Landscape Architecture
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“If you ever want to annoy a landscape architect, start discussing his work solely in terms of the trees and flowers he selects for planting.”
So began a March 1953 news release issued by Penn State’s public information department. It continued with a quote from landscape architecture program chairman John R. Bracken: “Landscape planning is much more than placing ‘spinach’ around a house.”
Bracken chaired the landscape architecture program from 1926 until his retirement in 1957. During his long tenure, he worked hard to educate the Penn State community and the public about the landscape architecture profession. In the remainder of that news release, Bracken discussed the importance of consulting a landscape architect before purchasing a lot for building. “He can help in the selection of a good community in which to settle, since he’s trained to look for things you aren’t—like zoning restrictions.”
The lead sentence, however, effectively summarized landscape architects’ ongoing struggle to help people understand what they do. Since Penn State’s landscape architecture program was established in 1906, the University has helped to combat that problem by turning out growing numbers of highly qualified landscape architects, who work in private firms, city planning offices, academic institutions and national agencies, to name a few. The following article provides just an overview of the history of this dynamic department, pieced together from materials in the Penn State University Archives and interviews with alumni, faculty and administrators.
The Bracken Years
Like many new programs, the landscape architecture program experienced some growing pains when it was established nearly 100 years ago. John Gregg had initiated the curriculum as part of the horticulture department in the School of Agriculture. Arthur Cowell took over as program chairman in 1913 and was succeeded by Bracken in 1926. Throughout the 1920s and 1930s, there were just a few students in each graduating class. In 1943, during World War II, the program was discontinued because of low enrollment. It was reinstituted in 1946 as a landscape horticulture program within the Department of Horticulture.
During his 31-year tenure at Penn State, Bracken was a tireless promoter of the landscape architecture profession and Penn State’s program. He was one of the University’s earliest landscape architecture graduates, earning a degree in 1914 in what was then known as landscape gardening. After graduation, he worked for firms in Pittsburgh and Philadelphia and then returned to Penn State in 1924 as the University’s first extension specialist in landscape architecture. Two years later, he was appointed program chairman and a full professor, even though he had only a bachelor’s degree (he later earned master’s and doctoral degrees at the University of Michigan).
Under Bracken’s leadership, Penn State became one of eight charter members of the Federation of Professional Schools of Landscape Architecture, and the American Society of Landscape Architects invited Penn State students to compete for the prestigious American Academy in Rome Fellowship. In 1939, he took a one-year leave of absence to serve as a consulting architect for the Pennsylvania General State Authority, where he was responsible for landscape designs for 43 state institutions. Soon after he returned, the landscape architecture and architecture programs were merged and Bracken’s curriculum was reduced. Bracken protested the merger and eventually his courses were reinstated.
“Through the years, I joined professional organizations, went to conventions and gave many speeches, always with the purpose of promoting Penn State’s name,” Bracken said after retiring from the University. “I was determined to produce a number-one school that everyone, including graduates, would be proud of.”
Alumni who studied under Bracken remember him with fondness and respect. “My father wasn’t happy when I decided to major in landscape architecture,” remembers Neil Porterfield (’58 B.S. L.Arch.), who later became department head and dean of the College of Arts and Architecture. “But after he met Dr. Bracken, he was fine with it.” Porterfield says Bracken was a real gentleman, well rounded with varied interests in music, painting and other areas. “He wore a white smock and a black bowtie—he was a true artist,” he notes.
According to Porterfield, Bracken liked to keep close reigns on his students, but he had a soft heart. As a sophomore, Porterfield decided to make Yule logs to sell at Christmastime to earn some extra money. Bracken caught him using the landscape architecture studio’s equipment and told him it was not for personal use. But later, when Porterfield was gathering up his things in the studio, Bracken returned and asked to see one of Porterfield’s Yule logs. “He examined it, made some changes, then said, ‘Now that’s how you should do it.’ And then I was allowed to use the equipment. He was just upset that I hadn’t asked him first.”
Soon after Bracken died in 1979 at age 87, the landscape architecture department created the John R. Bracken Program Enrichment Fund to support lectures and other activities to enhance the department’s degree programs. Today the department honors a John R. Bracken Fellow each fall, and hosts a Bracken Lecturer each spring. When the fund was created, many of Bracken’s former students praised his teaching and his character. “He always went to bat for his budding landscape architects,” said one alumnus. “He always greeted you with a smile, even when your visit to his office had promises of being less than hilarious. You developed the feeling that he cares.”
Changes, Changes
In 1957, Wayne Wilson succeeded Bracken as program chairman and served until 1972. Also in 1957, the program’s name was changed from landscape horticulture to landscape architecture and gained accreditation from the American Society for Landscape Architects. In 1963, the program gained departmental status when it was relocated to the newly established College of Arts and Architecture.
James DeTuerk (’61 B.S. L.Arch.) joined the landscape architecture faculty in 1964. “It was a challenging time because the program had just been taken out of horticulture,” he says. “Universities nationwide were reviewing their landscape architecture programs and determining where they should be based.” Today Penn State is one of a very few universities with a “college of arts and architecture” that houses programs in the fine arts, performing arts and applied arts.
According to DeTuerk, who retired from Penn State as a professor emeritus in 1998, Wilson, like Bracken, was an enthusiastic recruiter. “He managed to convince people who had never been to Penn State before that it was the next best thing to sliced bread… he spun a web around you and you just couldn’t get out.”
Thanks in large part to Wilson’s efforts, the landscape architecture faculty ranks expanded greatly during the 1960s and early 1970s. In addition to DeTuerk, newcomers included Daniel Jones, William King, E. Lynn Miller, Ken Pulakowski and Glenn Steyers. Donald Leslie (’65 B.S. L.Arch.), who joined the faculty in 1971, went on to serve as associate dean for undergraduate studies and outreach in the College of Arts and Architecture (1991–2003) and is currently Penn State’s associate vice provost for undergraduate education.
Wilson’s other accomplishments included the creation of an interdisciplinary graduate program in regional planning (which was later relocated to the Graduate School) and the establishment of the Division of Environmental Design and Planning (in collaboration with the Department of Architecture).
David Young succeeded Wilson as department head in 1972 and served until 1985. He remained on the faculty until 1989. During his tenure, he gained national prominence for the department and doubled its enrollment, making it one of the largest undergraduate landscape architecture programs in the country. He also guided the establishment of many of the department’s endowed accounts and student awards, including the John R. Bracken Program Enrichment Fund. Young remained an active researcher, developing the first teaching aids for the technical aspects of the landscape architecture discipline.
“We brought a reputation to the department,” Young said upon his retirement. “I’m proud that we put out a very diverse group of people, everything from land planners to residential builders.”
