Tacoma (Lakewood) -- Thornewood

Object Details

sova.aag.gca_ref11425

GUID: https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb62a47bcef-790d-4432-92cd-2a7e4bbc16ce

General: A 400 year old Elizabethan manor in England was purchased by Chester Thorne and dismantled and shipped from England to be included in the building of Thornewood. Thornewood, built in 1911, once covered 100 acres, from the American Lake shore to the Tacoma Country and Golf Club. The mountain served as the inspiration for the landscape design. "The mountain at a distance has been brought into the picture by means of long, horizontal lines, by the general contrivance of walks, borders, boundary walls, by the preservation of certain natural trees..." (Howe, 1915) The garden terminated with two arbors united with balustrades. A Japanese garden was planted in two corners near a water garden. Most of the estate was divided into 30 home sites in 1959. In 1982, the house was named to the National Register of Historic Places. By 1988, the property was reduced to three acres on the lake. The current owners use the house, "Thornewood Castle," and property as a bed and breakfast.; Persons associated with the garden include: Chester Thorne (former owner, 1910-1927); Perry and Connie Palmer (former owners, 1965-1988?); John C. Olmsted of Olmsted Brothers, Landscape Architects (landscape architect, 1910).
Reproduction Note: Three slides reproduced from American Country Houses To-Day; six slides reproduced from hand-colored photographs by Asahel Curtis; four slides reproduced from collections in Washington State Historical Society; one slide reproduced from House Beatuiful (1926); and three slides reproduced from Lewis and Shelon Plate (1921).

Former owner: Thorne, Chester Mr Mrs
Architect: Cutter, Kirkland Kelsey
Landscape architect: Olmsted, John Charles, 1852-1920; Olmsted Brothers
Provenance: Tacoma Garden Club
Collection Creator: Garden Club of America

Place: Thornewood (Tacoma, Washington); United States of America -- Washington -- Pierce County -- Tacoma

Topic: Gardens -- Washington (State) -- Seattle

Former owner: Thorne, Chester Mr Mrs
Architect: Cutter, Kirkland Kelsey
Landscape architect: Olmsted, John Charles, 1852-1920; Olmsted Brothers
Provenance: Tacoma Garden Club

See more items in: The Garden Club of America collection; The Garden Club of America collection / Series 1: United States Gardens / Washington

Custodial History: The Tacoma Garden Club facilitated the documentation of this garden in 1998.

Archival Repository: Archives of American Gardens

Identifier: AAG.GCA, File WA005

Type: Archival materials

Collection Citation: Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Collection Rights: Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Bibliography: Garden featured in Mac Griswold and Eleanor Weller, Golden Age of American Gardens (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc., 1991), p. 308. Garden featured in Samuel Howe, American Country Houses of To-Day (New York: The Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1915), pp. 347-349. Garden featured in American Country Houses of To-Day (New York: The Architectural Book Publishing Company, 1913), pp. 102-107. Garden featured in Mrs. John Carroll Perkins, "Thornewood, on American Lake: The Residence of Mr. and Mrs. Chester Thorne at Tacoma, Washington," in The House Beautiful vol. 59 No. 3 (March 1926).

Scope and Contents: Thornewood related holdings consist of 2 folders (43 glass lantern slides, 24 35 mm. slides, and 12 photoprints). The folders include copies of articles.

Collection Restrictions: Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Related Materials: Records related to this site can be found at the Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site, Olmsted Job Number 03494, Chester Thorne.

AAG.GCA_ref11425

Large EAD

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb62a47bcef-790d-4432-92cd-2a7e4bbc16ce

AAG.GCA

AAG

Record ID: ebl-1643208220039-1643210188649-0

1 result(s)

The Garden Club of America collection

sova.aag.gca

GUID
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb617385372-1028-4cb7-b07d-04fea2e51c47

Creator

Garden Club of America

Names

New York Flower Show

Topic

Gardens -- France

Gardens -- Italy

Gardens -- Japan

Gardens -- Mexico

Flower shows

Gardening -- United States -- societies, etc

Gardens -- England

Landscape architecture

Gardens -- United States

Gardens -- Spain

Gardens -- Scotland

Creator

Garden Club of America

See more items in

The Garden Club of America collection

Sponsor

A project to describe images in this finding aid received Federal support from the Smithsonian Collections Care Initiative, administered by the National Collections Program.

Summary

The Garden Club of America Collection at the Smithsonian's Archives of American Gardens contains over 100,000 images (lantern slides, 35mm slides, photographs, and digital images) and garden files that document thousands of historic and contemporary gardens (public and private) across the United States. Each garden file includes a range of documentation such as descriptive information, photocopied articles from journals, newspapers, or books, planting lists, correspondence, and/or landscape plans and drawings. These files have been compiled by members of The Garden Club of America (GCA). Some of the gardens in the GCA Collection have been photographed over the course of several decades; others are documented at a single point in time. In addition to images of American gardens, there are glass lantern slides of the New York Flower Show (1941-1951) and trips that GCA members took to other countries, including Mexico (1937), Italy, Spain, Japan (1935), France (1936), England (1929), and Scotland. A number of the slides are copies of historic images from outside repositories including horticultural and historical societies or from horticultural books and publications. The GCA made a concerted effort in the mid-1980s to acquire these images in order to increase its documentation of American garden history. Because of copyright considerations, use of these particular images may be restricted.

Accruals note

The GCA continues to document American gardens and submit images and documentation to the Archives of American Gardens. Further accruals are expected.

Biographical/Historical note

The Garden Club of America was established in 1913 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, when the Garden Club of Philadelphia and eleven other garden clubs met to create a national garden club. Its purpose is to foster the knowledge and love of gardening and to restore and protect the quality of the environment through educational programs and gardening and conservation efforts. The GCA was incorporated in Delaware in 1923, with its headquarters established in New York City. Today, local clubs are organized under twelve regional zones. The GCA continues its tradition of hosting flower shows and publishing material related to gardening in the United States. The GCA's glass lantern slides were used by The GCA for presentations and lectures about notable gardens throughout the United States dating back to colonial times. An effort was made in the late 1980s, in preparation of the 75th anniversary of the Garden Club of America's founding, to collect the disbursed slides. These slides were to eventually form the Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens. The informational value of this collection is extensive since a number of images of the more than 4,500 gardens represented show garden designs that have changed over time or no longer exist. While the majority of images document a range of designed upper and upper-middle class gardens throughout the U.S., the scope of the collection is expanding as volunteers photograph and document contemporary gardens including community and vernacular gardens. The gardens illustrate the design work of dozens of landscape architects including Marian Coffin, Beatrix Farrand, Lawrence Halprin, Hare & Hare, Umberto Innocenti, Gertrude Jekyll, Jens Jensen, Warren Manning, the Olmsted Brothers, Charles Platt, Ellen Biddle Shipman, and Fletcher Steele. Because of their proximity to the gardens, works of notable architects and sculptors may also be featured in the images.

Extent

37000 Slides (photographs) (35mm slides)

33 Linear feet ((garden files))

3,000 Lantern slides

Date

circa 1920-present

Custodial History note

The GCA's Slide Library of Notable American Parks and Gardens was donated to the Smithsonian Institution in 1992; this became the core collection of the Archives of American Gardens.

Archival Repository

Archives of American Gardens

Identifier

AAG.GCA

Type

Collection descriptions

Archival materials

Slides (photographs)

Lantern slides

Plans (drawings)

Brochures

Articles

Correspondence

Clippings

Citation

Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, The Garden Club of America collection.

Rights

Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

Genre/Form

Plans (drawings)

Brochures

Articles

Correspondence

Clippings

Lantern slides

Slides (photographs)

Restrictions

Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.

AAG.GCA

Large EAD

https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/kb617385372-1028-4cb7-b07d-04fea2e51c47

AAG.GCA

AAG

Record ID

ebl-1562776092361-1562776095300-0