Mark Roy Daniels (1881 – 1952) was an architect, landscape architect, civil engineer, and city planner active in California. He was known for creating plans that incorporated existing natural features in order to preserve a sense of local character. He worked on master plans for the development of neighborhoods in San Francisco and the East Bay, on the Monterey Peninsula, in Los Angeles, and elsewhere. In the years immediately preceding the formation of the National Park System, he was briefly the general superintendent and landscape engineer for the entire system of national parks under the

United States Department of the Interior The United States Department of the Interior (DOI) is one of the executive departments of the U.S. federal government headquartered at the Main Interior Building, located at 1849 C Street NW in Washington, D.C. It is responsible for the mana ...

Education and family

Daniels was born in Spring Arbor, Michigan. He attended the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

, graduating with a B.S. degree in

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewage ...

in 1905. He went on to do graduate work in city planning and architecture at

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

. Daniels was married four times. His first wife, Frances “Dolly” Trost (1888–1941) was a singer and artist. He served as an army captain during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

Master planning

Daniels began his career as a civil engineer, working in a range of positions from

placer mine Placer mining () is the mining of stream bed (alluvial) deposits for minerals. This may be done by open-pit (also called open-cast mining) or by various surface excavating equipment or tunneling equipment. Placer mining is frequently used for pr ...

superintendent to railroad engineer. He eventually opened an office in San Francisco, and in 1908 East Bay real estate developer John Hopkins Spring became his first important landscape design client. Spring had acquired 100 acres in the largely undeveloped Thousand Oaks area of Berkeley and proposed to turn it into a residential area with a small park. Daniels planned the entire subdivision, deliberately working around existing natural features, especially major rock outcroppings. Daniels also landscaped Spring's own estate in the East Bay, now a designated City of Berkeley Landmark. Daniels also developed the master plans for the Forest Hill and

Sea Cliff Seacliff or Sea Cliff or Sea Cliffe may refer to: ;Places ''Australia'' *Seacliff, South Australia, suburb of Adelaide *Seacliff Park, South Australia, a suburb of Adelaide *Sea Cliff Bridge, in Illawarra, New South Wales ''New Zealand'' *Seacli ...

neighborhoods of San Francisco. Elsewhere in California, Daniels was involved with master planning on the Monterey Peninsula, especially Pebble Beach, Carmel Woods, and the

17-Mile Drive 17-Mile Drive is a scenic road through Pebble Beach and Pacific Grove on the Monterey Peninsula in California, much of which hugs the Pacific coastline and passes famous golf courses, mansions and scenic attractions, including the Lone Cypress, ...

; the designer

Chesley Bonestell Chesley Knight Bonestell Jr. (January 1, 1888 – June 11, 1986) was an American painter, designer and illustrator. His paintings inspired the American space program, and they have been (and remain) influential in science fiction art and illustr ...

worked as his assistant on these designs. He moved to Los Angeles, where he designed the Villa Aurora and worked on the master plan for Bel Air. In the 1920s, Daniels expanded into architecture as well as landscape design and city planning. He was a great admirer of Chinese architecture and landscape design, and when he moved back to San Francisco, the projects he worked on included the Chinese Village at the Golden Gate International Exposition of 1939–40 and a public housing project in

Chinatown A Chinatown () is an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Austra ...

Major projects

on the Monterey Peninsula (ca. 1916) * Bel Air, Los Angeles * Castellammare, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles (ca. 1928) * Chinese Village at Golden Gate International Exposition (1939–40) * Crocker-Amazon, San Francisco *

Forest Hill, San Francisco Forest Hill is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California. Forest Hill is one of eight master-planned residence parks in San Francisco. Forest Hill is located near the middle of the City of San Francisco, southeast of the Inner Sunset and nort ...

(ca. 1912) *

John Hopkins Spring Estate The John Hopkins Spring Estate is a large estate in Berkeley, California. The associated Spring Mansion was built in the 1910s by East Bay developer John Hopkins Spring and designed by architect John Hudson Thomas. It later became the site of a scho ...

, Berkeley (1912–14) * Pebble Beach, California (ca. 1916) *

Ping Yuen Ping Yuen and North Ping Yuen (sometimes collectively called The Pings) form a four-building public housing complex in the north end of Chinatown, San Francisco along Pacific Avenue. In total, there are 434 apartments. The three Pings on the sou ...

public housing project,

(1939–42) *

Sea Cliff, San Francisco Sea Cliff (sometimes spelled Seacliff) is a neighborhood in northwestern San Francisco, California. It is known for its large houses and ocean views. Sea Cliff is one of eight master–planned residence parks in San Francisco; its master plan wa ...

(ca. 1914) * St. Mary's Park, San Francisco (1920s) * Thousand Oaks, Berkeley, California * Villa Aurora, Pacific Palisades (1927–28)

Park superintendent

In 1914, Daniels took up the post of landscape engineer for

Yosemite National Park Yosemite National Park ( ) is an American national park in California, surrounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an ar ...

, where the existing buildings were in poor condition and there were issues with sanitation and water supply. He was tasked with developing a "comprehensive general plan for the development of the floor of the Yosemite Valley". Two months later, he was appointed general superintendent and landscape engineer of all the national parks. He spent the summers of 1914 and 1915 touring parks in the system to understand their problems but kept his private practice going during the winters. It proved an impossible job, not solely because he was working at it part-time, but because, as he himself pointed out, "it is not humanly possible" for one man to combine the very different duties of general superintendent and landscape engineer for the national parks. These difficulties were exacerbated by struggles with other administrators over centralization of planning, with the result that Daniels was pushed to resign after only a year and a half. During his brief tenure, he designed the first uniforms for civilian park rangers and (in 1915) offered the first comprehensive statement of principles for the establishment and management of national parks. In addition, foreseeing a major expansion of visitors to national parks, he drew up plans for "park villages" in such high-profile parks as Yosemite, Glacier National Park, and

Mount Rainier National Park Mount Rainier National Park is an American national park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. The park was established on March 2, 1899, as the fourth national park in the United States, preservi ...

. None of these were carried out in their original form — though elements were incorporated into later plans — but as in all his other design work, Daniels stressed the importance of taking the local topography and environment into account so as to create visual congruity with the surrounding landscape. American forestry (1910-1923) (18117894086)

American forestry (1910-1923) (18117894086)

Writing

After leaving his position as park superintendent, Daniels continued to promote the national parks through a long series of articles in ''American Forestry'' magazine. Many of his glowing accounts of specific parks were illustrated with his own photographs and drawings.

Selected publications

"The Nationa Parks of California"
(''California's magazine'', 1915) * "The Tree of Legend and Romance" (''American Forestry'', February 1916)
"Mesa Verde and Casa Grande National Parks"
(''American Forestry'', February 1916) * "The

Grand Canyon The Grand Canyon (, yuf-x-yav, Wi:kaʼi:la, , Southern Paiute language: Paxa’uipi, ) is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in Arizona, United States. The Grand Canyon is long, up to wide and attains a depth of over a m ...

of the Colorado" (''American Forestry'', April 1916) * "Yosemite National Park" (''American Forestry'', June 1916) * " Glacier National Park" (''American Forestry'', July 1916) * "

Yellowstone National Park Yellowstone National Park is an American national park located in the western United States, largely in the northwest corner of Wyoming and extending into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the 42nd U.S. Congress with the Yellowston ...

" (''American Forestry'', August 1916) * "

" (''American Forestry'', September 1916) * "

Crater Lake National Park Crater Lake National Park is an American national park located in southern Oregon. Established in 1902, Crater Lake is the fifth-oldest national park in the United States and the only national park in Oregon. The park encompasses the caldera of ...

" (''American Forestry'', October 1916) * "The Peak of Mount Russell" (''American Forestry'', November 1916) * "Across the High Sierras" (''American Forestry'', November 1916) * "

Rocky Mountain National Park Rocky Mountain National Park is an American national park located approximately northwest of Denver in north-central Colorado, within the Front Range of the Rocky Mountains. The park is situated between the towns of Estes Park to the east and ...

" (''American Forestry'', December 1916)

Death

Daniels died on January 14, 1952 at Franklin Hospital, now California Pacific Medical Center in San Francisco, California, after a long illness. Funeral services were held at Dierks & Co., in San Francisco.

References

External links

Finding Aid for the Ernest Mitchell Pratt Photographs of Mark Daniels' Architecture, ca. 1915-1929

''American Forestry'' issues from 1916 with Mark Daniels' articles
{{DEFAULTSORT:Daniels, Mark Roy 1881 births 1952 deaths American landscape architects Architects from California University of California, Berkeley alumni Harvard Graduate School of Design alumni National park administrators American civil engineers