Loutrel Winslow Briggs (December 12, 1893 - May 1977) was an American

landscape architect A landscape architect is a person who is educated in the field of landscape architecture. The practice of landscape architecture includes: site analysis, site inventory, site planning, land planning, planting design, grading, storm water manageme ...

active in

Charleston, South Carolina Charleston is the largest city in the U.S. state of South Carolina, the county seat of Charleston County, and the principal city in the Charleston–North Charleston metropolitan area. The city lies just south of the geographical midpoint o ...

. Briggs was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, graduated from

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

in 1917 with a degree in "Rural Art" (landscape architecture), and chaired the department of landscape architecture at the New York School of Fine and Applied Art. In the 1920s he began a seasonal landscape architecture practice in Charleston catering to wealthy New Yorkers who wintered in the area. His first major commission was in 1929 for Mrs.

Washington Roebling Washington Augustus Roebling (May 26, 1837 – July 21, 1926) was an American civil engineer who supervised the construction of the Brooklyn Bridge, designed by his father John A. Roebling. He served in the Union Army during the American Civ ...

, widow of the engineer who supervised construction of the

Brooklyn Bridge The Brooklyn Bridge is a hybrid cable-stayed/ suspension bridge in New York City, spanning the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the first fixed crossing of the East River ...

. In 1951, Briggs published a book, "Charleston Gardens," about the private gardens in Charleston, South Carolina. Briggs is now best known for more than one hundred gardens that he designed in or near Charleston's historic district. He was also landscape architect for

Mepkin Abbey Mepkin Abbey is a Trappist monastery in Berkeley County, South Carolina. The abbey is located near Moncks Corner, at the junction of the two forks of the Cooper River northwest of Charleston, and is located in the Diocese of Charleston. History ...

References

* Briggs, Loutrel, ''Charleston Gardens'', University of South Carolina Press, 1951. * Birnbaum, Charles A., and Karson, Robin, eds., ''Pioneers of American Landscape Design'', pp. 35–37, McGraw-Hill, 2000. * Cameron, Louisa Pringle, ''The Private Gardens of Charleston'', Wyrick & Company, April 1992. . {{DEFAULTSORT:Briggs, Loutrel 1893 births 1977 deaths American landscape architects Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences alumni