During the Country Estate movement of the early twentieth century, Marian Coffin ((1876-1957) had an influential hand in crafting romantic garden landscapes of
the region Around the Delaware Arc. She also landscaped the University of
Delaware's winsome Colonial Revival campus.
Trained at the turn of the century at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, she was a pioneering female landscape architect. Unable to secure a position with a firm, out of necessity, she established a private practice. Coffin's friendship with Henry F. du Pont (Winterthur) gave her entree to the du Pont family.
This tour visits three du Pont country estates 1) Gibraltor, 2) Winterthur, 3) Mt. Cuba, and 4) the campus of the University of Delaware.
The Tour: Landscapes of Marian Cruger Coffin
I. Marian Cruger Coffin's Life
Ms. Coffin's life and work is chronicled in a biography: Money, Manure
& Maintenance, Ingredients for Successful Gardens of Marian Coffin, Nancy Fleming, Country Place Books (1995). A
portion of this work may be read on Google
Books and purchased from there as an e-book.
An article by the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology, "Against all
Odds MIT’s Pioneering Women of Landscape," describes the
School of Architecture during the time that Coffin studied there and includes a sketch of her life (pp 18-20).
II. Gibraltor Gardens
In 1997 Preservation
Delaware rescued an
early (1916) Coffin project in Wilmington, the terraced “garden rooms” of Gibraltor in
Wilmington, Hugh Rodney Sharp's six and a half acre estate in the
Highland neighborhood.
The gardens are open to the public and have no admission charge.
The gardens are open to the public and have no admission charge.
Beginning in 1928 through 1950, Coffin collaborated with du Pont in expanding and unifying the gardens around the expanding home and grounds. Her genius, in creating a swimming pool, shaping an axis that with additional plantings tied together the flora of the 1,000 acre estate, continues to provide a succession of seasonal tapestries. Images of their collaboration can be viewed at the Winterthur website.
IV. Mt Cuba's Round Garden
In
1949 Coffin designed the Round Garden at the Lammot du Pont Copeland's 500
acre estate, Mt. Cuba. It
has been restored/renovated in recent years.
V. The Campus of the University of Delaware
In 1920, the Board of Trusties resolved: "RESOLVED,
that all plantings of trees and shrubbery on the grounds of Delaware College be
under the supervision of Miss Marian C. Coffin, 830 Lexington Avenue, New York
City, and be made in accordance with the plans and specifications prepared by
Miss Coffin."
The university's beguiling campus owes much to Coffin's evolving vision. A summary of Coffin’s extensive work on campus can be found in the University's publication, The Messenger: "The Art of Landscaping."[University of Delaware" pp. 210-211]
Food suggestion: Not far from Gibraltor is Wilmington's longstanding Little Italy neighborhood. Union Street has several restaurants remembering Italian roots, plus restaurants that represent an influx of newer ethnicities. To start the day or for a lunch break, to eat like a local, the Kozy Korner is the choice.
The university's beguiling campus owes much to Coffin's evolving vision. A summary of Coffin’s extensive work on campus can be found in the University's publication, The Messenger: "The Art of Landscaping."[University of Delaware" pp. 210-211]
Food suggestion: Not far from Gibraltor is Wilmington's longstanding Little Italy neighborhood. Union Street has several restaurants remembering Italian roots, plus restaurants that represent an influx of newer ethnicities. To start the day or for a lunch break, to eat like a local, the Kozy Korner is the choice.
