This collection contains the professional papers of American landscape architect Florence Yoch (1890-1972) relating to her work designing landscapes and gardens primarily in Southern California, but also in Northern California, Mexico, and other locales, chiefly with her partner Lucile Council (1898-1964) and their firm Yoch and Council. The collection contains photographs and drawings documenting approximately 100 projects, as well as professional papers, research files, and office records, with the bulk of the material dating from 1918 to 1971. The collection also includes papers and photographs documenting James Yoch's research and work on Florence Yoch.

Landscape architect Florence Theresa Yoch (1890-1972) was born July 15, 1890, in Laguna Beach, California, and died in Carmel, California, on January 31, 1972. The youngest of six daughters of Joseph Yoch, an entrepreneur, and Catherine Elizabeth Isch Yoch, a former teacher, Florence Yoch grew up in Santa Ana and Laguna Beach, where the family had a summer home and built the Laguna Beach Hotel, which hosted art exhibits and became a gathering spot for a growing cultural scene. Yoch’s interest in gardening and landscape design was likely sparked during visits to Arden, the Orange County estate and gardens of Polish American actress and family friend Helena Modjeska, where Theodore Payne, later known as a specialist in California native plants, served as a gardener from 1893 to 1896.Landscape architect Lucile Council (1898-1964; name variously spelled "Lucille Council") was born in 1898 in Illinois to parents William H. Council and Francis Bloomfield and died January 21, 1964, in Monterey, California. Council studied at Oxford University and at the Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she earned a Master’s degree. In 1921, Council joined the landscape architectural firm of Florence Yoch (1890-1972) as an apprentice. Yoch and Council became partners in life and in business, and in 1925, they formed their partnership, Yoch and Council (known variously as Yoch & Council), working initially in a studio at the home of Council’s parents in South Pasadena. Their partnerships continued until Council’s death in 1964 in Carmel, California.

59 boxes and 21 oversize folders

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