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Guide to the Edward Huntsman-Trout Architectural Landscape Drawings
D1987.1
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Title: Edward Huntsman-Trout Architectural
Landscape Drawings Collection
Creator:
Huntsman-Trout, Edward
Dates: 1927-1956
Date (bulk): (bulk 1929-1931)
Quantity:
3 cubic feet
Repository:
Claremont Colleges. Library.
1090 Columbia Avenue
Claremont, California 91711
Abstract: This collection contains views,
details, elevations, and drawings showing the planned arrangement of outside courts,
inner courts, wall fountains, gate entrances, stone urns, and gardens throughout
Scripps College. This collection also contains an aerial planting perspective of the
college. The collection covers the years 1927 to 1956, with the bulk of the material
ranging from 1929 to 1931.
Physical Location: Ella Strong Denison Library
Collection Number: D1987.1
Language:
English
Administrative Information
This collection is open for research with permission from Ella Strong Denison
Library staff.
All requests for permission to publish must be submitted in writing to Denison
Library.
Orininals located at UCLA.
Edward Huntsman-Trout Architectural Landscape Drawings Collection. Ella Strong
Denison Library, Scripps College, Claremont, California.
Gift of Marka Oliver Hibbs (Class of 1953) in 1987.
Preliminary arrangement by library staff. Processed by History Associates
Incorporated, 2005.
No addition to the collection is anticipated.
Biography of Edward Huntsman-Trout
Edward Huntsman-Trout, landscape architect, was born on July 31, 1889 in Ontario,
Canada. Shortly after his mothers’ death (1892), he moved to the home of his
great-aunt and uncle (the Trout’s) in Toronto. In 1908 the Trout’s moved to Los
Angeles, where Edward finished high school, and later graduated from UC Berkeley
with a degree in Botany in 1913. The following fall, he began his studies at
Harvard’s School of Landscape Architecture, graduating in 1916.
Huntsman-Trout was a well-known landscape architect in Southern California between
1920 and the early 1970’s, and was a prominent designer of both residential estates
and larger non-residential commissions. At Harvard, Huntsman-Trout studied a range
of landscape traditions, including the principles of naturalistic English tradition
to the more architectonic approach exemplified in Italian Renaissance and Baroque
gardens as espoused by the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His early work was within the
tradition of the great European estates that later gave way to an individual
approach, which blended existing site conditions and the clients needs with his own
preference for an uncontrived solution. Huntsman-Trout was a plantsmen first, using
plants to enhance rather than determine his designs. He adapted earlier traditions
to inspire his development of a particular site.
Educated at Harvard, Huntsman-Trout was later trained at prestigious eastern firms.
His first job was in the office of Fletcher Steele, a landscape architect in Boston.
While at Fletcher Steele, he supervised the construction of an estate in northern
Maine. This made him an ideal choice for his later collaborations with Gordon
Kaufman, a leading architect during this period.
Huntsman-Trout served in WWI – posted in France. After the war Huntsman-Trout
returned to the United States, working briefly as the head of the design department
at A.D. Taylor in Cleveland, where he supervised crews on a variety of projects.
After receiving news that his great-aunt was ill, Huntsman-Trout returned to Los
Angeles. Not long after his arrival in Los Angeles Huntsman-Trout accepted a
position with the landscape architecture department at Beverly Hills Nursery. One of
the gardens Huntsman-Trout designed for Beverly Hills Nursery was for the home of
Roy and Hazel Pinkham (1922). In the course of working on the Pinkham project,
Huntsman-Trout met his wife, future clients, and several architects with whom he
would later work – including Gordon Kaufman. His association with the Pinkhams
enabled him to acquire his own clients, and eventually leave Beverly Hills nursery.
Huntsman-Trout joined a handful of independent landscape artists practicing in
Southern California. He based his site plans on Italian Renaissance and Baroque
models, diminishing the distinction between structures and surroundings and using
plantings to clearly define spaces. During the 1920’s Huntsman-Trout became
interested in the romanticized Spanish Mission heritage that had transformed into a
“California Style” landscape. These California Style projects include: Dios Dorados
(1923), which he designed for movie director Thomas Ince; the Winnett Estate
(1928-1929) overlooking Santa Monica Canyon; the Mudd Estate in Benedict Canyon; and
the Jay Paley estate (1935), one of the last great estates.
During the 1920’s, Huntsman-Trout was also involved in non-residential landscape
design. The most representative examples of his non-residential projects are the La
Quinta Hotel (1926-1929) near Indio, Scripps College (1927) in Claremont, and
Bullock’s Wilshire (1929). Scripps College, like the La Quinta Hotel, features one
and two story Spanish Colonial Revival buildings placed on rectilinear, interlocking
axes. The plan at Scripps was highly complex. The open spaces are enhanced by the
addition of intimate courtyards and slight changes of level. Two major axes make up
the scheme; the east-west axis of the auditorium; and the art building facing north
toward the bowling green and Toll Hall. These axes together make the structural
backbone of the plan. They give it strength and stability to contrast with the free
form of trees and other plants. Garden grounds are frequent throughout. Shade trees
are everywhere.
During World War II Huntsman-Trout’s career was briefly placed on hold. Although he
was too old to join the military (53), he supported the war effort by working for
the Douglas Corporation as a camoufleur. After the war Huntsman-Trout returned to
his office, but instead of working on large estates, he was involved in designing
smaller gardens within the new subdivisions that were sprouting up throughout
Southern California. By 1965, Huntsman-Trout worked exclusively on residential
projects, completing thirty private gardens in his final seven years of practice.
| 1889 | Born in Ontario, Canada on July 31, 1889. |
| 1892 | Mother dies |
| 1908 | Moved to Los Angeles, California. |
| 1913 | Graduated from UC Berkeley. |
| 1916 | Graduated from Harvard’s School of Landscape Architecture. |
| 1922 | Designed garden for Beverly Hills Nursery for the home of Roy and Hazel Pinkham. |
| 1923 | Designed Dios Dorados for movie director Thomas Ince. |
| 1926-1929 | Designed La Quinta Hotel near Indio. |
| 1927 | Designed Scripps College in Claremont, California. |
| 1928-1929 | Designed Winnett Estate. |
| 1929 | Designed Bullock’s Wilshire. |
| 1935 | Designed Jay Paley estate. |
Scope and Contents of the Collection
This collection consists of one series - Architectural Landscape Drawings. The
material in the collection includes views, details, elevations, and drawings showing
the planned arrangement of inner courts, outside courts, wall fountains, gate
entrances, stone urns, and gardens throughout Scripps College. This collection also
contains an aerial planting perspective of the college. The collection covers the
years 1927-1956 with the bulk of the material ranging from 1927 to 1931.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the
library's online public access catalog.
Huntsman-Trout, Edward, 1889-1974
Scripps College--History--Sources.
Landscape architecture - California
Architectural drawings
Blueprints
Sketches