Product Description

This classic of landscape architecture has been required reading for the residential garden design professional, student, and generalist since its publication in 1955. Gardens Are for People contains the essence of Thomas Church's design philosophy and much practical advice. Amply illustrated by site plans and photographs of some of the 2,000 gardens Church designed during the course of his career, the third edition has a new Preface as well as a selected bibliography of writings by and about Church. Called "the last great traditional designer and the first great modern designer," Church was one of the central figures in the development of the modern California garden. For the first time, West Coast designers based their work not on imitation of East Coast traditions, but on climatic, landscape, and lifestyle characteristics unique to California and the West. Church viewed the garden as a logical extension of the house, with one extending naturally into the other. His plans reflect the personality and practical needs of the homeowner, as well as a pragmatic response to the logistical demands of the site.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #625816 in Books
• Published on: 1995-06-12
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 256 pages

About the Author
Thomas D. Church (1902-1978) was an internationally acclaimed landscape architect and the recipient of many awards during his lifetime. GraceHall was Church's assistant, and Michael Laurie is Professor and Chair of Landscape Architecture at the University of California, Berkeley.

Customer Reviews

A classic
I loved to read this book. After reading it you can clearly see how much Thomas Church influenced the modern designers. I really enojoyed reading the needs of the clients for their garden and then how Church solved and designed great gardens based on the clients'needs. A Classic.

Lack of color pictures and dated landscapes dooms this one
Thomas Church was a "founding father" in modern landscape design thought. He wrote this book to showcase his ideas about it.

If you have read even a few landscaping books, you will find that most of the ideas expressed will be familiar to you and won't be of much help to design your specific garden. I felt the yard and garden examples in the book were dated (as in 1960s, 1970s, 1980s looking).

Finally, I was disappointed in both the printing and the photo examples. All the pictures were black & white, and they all were rather crudely printed. This made it difficult to see details within the photos.

On the up side, the text is good reading for those seeking to become a landscape designer, be he amatuer or professional. And if you DO want to do "retro" designs, the examples ARE well done.

My grandfather was Thomas Church
This is a revised version of the hardback printed in the 50's. It was revised by his long time assistant Grace Hall whom he trusted and adored. It has a more indepth look at his own home which still looks the same to this day. The original hardback version can be found if we like you.