Landscape Architects, German American
The built landscape of many major American cities was shaped in large measure by German Americans. Unlike many of their counterparts who emigrated from other countries, these German American landscape architects were professionals trained in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland before arriving in the United States.
Their influence on the parks, gardens, and city plans of American cities has left a lasting impact on the landscapes of American cities. Most notable among these designers were George Huessler (1751—1817), Wilhelm Christian Bischoff (1791—1881), George Ellwanger (1816—1890), Eugene Achilles Baumann (1817—?), Ignatz Pilat (1820-1870), Adolph Strauch (18221883), Ferdinand Mangold (1828-1905), Jacob Weidenmann (1829-1893), Heinrich Adolph Engelhardt (1830-1897), Maximillian Kern (c.1830-1915), Theodore Wirth (1863-1949), Julius Pitz- man (1837-1923), Rudolf Ulrich (1841-1906), Edward Otto Schwagerl (1842-?), Oscar Dubuis (1849-1906), Frederick Nussbaumer (1850-?), Adolph Jaenicke (1860-1948), Reinhold Shuetze (1860-1909), George Kessler (18621923), and Oscar Praeger (1876-1960).George Huessler was born in Landau, Alsace, and immigrated to Salem, Massachusetts, where he is generally considered one of the first gardeners in the new country. Bischoff came to Savannah, Georgia, from Hamburg. He designed Forsyth Park, the great open space of Savannah. Ell- wanger was the founder of the great Mount Hope nursery, Ellwanger and Barry, in Rochester, New York. At the turn of the century, it provided plant material for parks and gardens throughout the United States, even shipping to Europe and Asia. Ignatz Pilat of St. Agatha, Austria, served as superintendent of horticulture for the development of Central Park in New York City. Professionally trained in horticulture at the University of Vienna, Pilat is generally credited with the planting design for perhaps the greatest park in the United States.
Adolph Strauch of Eckersdorf in Silesia became superintendent of Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1855, a post he held all his life. Spring Grove is considered one of the great designed landscapes of the nineteenth century. Maximillian Kern published the book Practical Landscape Gardening with Reference to the Improvement of Rural Residences in 1855. A native of Tubingen, Germany, Kern served as superintendent of the parks of Toledo, Ohio. There he designed Ottawa, Walbridge, Riverside, Collins, and City parks. Adolph Jaenicke from Berlin settled in Fort Wayne, Indiana, after a time in Philadelphia. There he served his entire career as superintendent of the city’s parks. Jaenicke Gardens in Swinney Park and the Rose Gardens in Lakeside Park are considered his greatest works. Frederick Nuss- baumer of Baden, Germany, settled in St. Paul, Minnesota, and spent his entire career as superintendent of the city’s park system. There he designed numerous parks and boulevards in the city, including Como Park, generally considered his greatest work. Across the Mississippi River, Theodore Wirth created the great park system of Minneapolis. Born in Winterthur, Switzerland, Wirth followed Jacob Wiedenmann as a superintendent of the Hartford, Connecticut, park system, before moving to Minneapolis. Of all the German American landscape architects, George Edward Kessler was clearly the most prolific and perhaps the greatest. His most notable work was the original master plan for the Kansas City, Missouri, park system in 1892. During his career, which spanned until his death in 1923, he also prepared park system plans for Cincinnati, Indianapolis, Fort Wayne, Terre Haute, South Bend, Dallas, Fort Worth, Denver, and numerous other cities. He also served as landscape architect for the Louisiana Purchase Exposition in 1904.The German American professionals did not receive the recognition they desired for their accomplishments in part because many of them spent their entire careers on one project, serving as estate gardeners or superintendents of a particular park system rather than working as consultants across a broader geographic area. The dominance of Frederick Law Olmsted and his Englishspeaking counterparts also reduced the visibility of the Germans. Finally, the suppression of German culture in the United States following World War I further reduced the country’s awareness of their contribution.
Kurt Culbertson
See also Central Park; Cincinnati; Olmsted,
Frederick Law; Strauch, Adolph
References and Further Reading
Culbertson, Kurt. “George Edward Kessler: Landscape Architect of the American Renaissance.” In Landscape Architecture in the Midwest. Ed. William Tishler. Champaign: University of Illinois, 2005.
Wilson, William H. The City Beautiful Movement in Kansas City. Columbia: University of Missouri, 1964.