Martha Brookes Hutcheson (October 2, 1871 – 1959) was an American landscape architect, lecturer, and author, active in

New England New England is a region comprising six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the Can ...

, New York, and

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

Biography

Hutcheson was born in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

as Martha Brookes Brown, and as a child spent her summers on a family farm near Burlington, Vermont. From 1893 to 1895 she studied at the New York School of Applied Design for Women, and in the late 1890s toured Europe where she studied gardens in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian Oceans. Its metropolitan area ...

, and

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. As Hutcheson later wrote in ''The Spirit of the Garden'': In 1900 she entered

MIT The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...

's new landscape architecture program at age 29, where she studied for two years before leaving without degree in 1902. She subsequently designed the grounds of several residential estates near Boston, most notably Frederick Moseley's large

Newburyport Newburyport is a coastal city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, northeast of Boston. The population was 18,289 at the 2020 census. A historic seaport with vibrant tourism industry, Newburyport includes part of Plum Island. The mo ...

estate, 1904-1906 (now

Maudslay State Park Maudslay State Park is a Massachusetts state park located in Newburyport. The park is managed by the Department of Conservation and Recreation. It is available (by permit) for weddings and other programs. Description Maudslay State Park is a ...

), and the garden at

Alice Mary Longfellow Alice Mary Longfellow (September 22, 1850 – December 7, 1928) was a philanthropist, preservationist, and the eldest surviving daughter of the American poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. She is best known as "grave Alice" from her father's poem " Th ...

's house (now the

Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site The Longfellow House–Washington's Headquarters National Historic Site (also known as the Vassall-Craigie-Longfellow House and, until December 2010, Longfellow National Historic Site) is a historic site located at 105 Brattle Street in Cambridge ...

) in

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

. She also was the landscape architect for the Poplar Hill and

Welwyn Welwyn is a village and civil parish in Hertfordshire, England. The parish also includes the villages of Digswell and Oaklands. It is sometimes referred to as Old Welwyn or Welwyn Village, to distinguish it from the much newer and larger ...

estates in Glen Cove, New York. After Hutcheson's marriage in 1911, she retired from commercial practice but she began to landscape her own garden (5 acres) on the couple's farm in

Chester Township, New Jersey Chester Township is a township in Morris County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 7,838, reflecting an increase of 556 (+7.6%) from the 7,282 counted in the 2000 Census, which had ...

. Its overall design was influenced by classical Italian gardens, featuring a pond enclosed by native plants, vegetable garden, flower borders,

orchard An orchard is an intentional plantation of trees or shrubs that is maintained for food production. Orchards comprise fruit- or nut-producing trees which are generally grown for commercial production. Orchards are also sometimes a feature of ...

allée In landscaping, an avenue (from the French), alameda (from the Portuguese and Spanish), or allée (from the French), is traditionally a straight path or road with a line of trees or large shrubs running along each side, which is used, as its L ...

s, and farm buildings. This farm, with garden, is now preserved as the

Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center Bamboo Brook Outdoor Education Center is a botanical garden and public park in Chester Township, New Jersey. The house and garden, listed using its historic name, Merchiston Farm, was added to the National Register of Historic Places The Na ...

. With In 1935 she was named a fellow in the

American Society of Landscape Architects The American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) is a professional association for landscape architects in the United States. The ASLA's mission is to advance landscape architecture through advocacy, communication, education, and fellowship ...

, the third woman to receive this distinction. Although Hutcheson executed dozens of commissions, including gardens at

Bennington College Bennington College is a private liberal arts college in Bennington, Vermont. Founded in 1932 as a women's college, it became co-educational in 1969. It claims to be the first college to include visual and performing arts as an equal partner in ...

and Billings Farm (now the

Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. The park preserves the Marsh-Billings House, as well as the site where Frederick Billings established a managed forest and a p ...

), most of her works have been lost.

Gallery

File:LongfellowNHS-garden.JPG, A portion of garden at

, Cambridge, Massachusetts File:Hutcheson House, Merchiston Farm, Chester Township, NJ - looking east.jpg, Dogwoods in bloom by her house at the

, Chester Township, New Jersey File:Merchiston Farm, Chester Township, NJ - information plaque.jpg,

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

plaque recognizing her work at the Merchiston Farm, now Bamboo Brook, from 1911 to 1959

Selected works

* ''The Spirit of the Garden'', 1923, reprinted by

University of Massachusetts Press The University of Massachusetts Press is a university press that is part of the University of Massachusetts Amherst The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst, UMass) is a public research university in Amherst, Massachusetts a ...

, 2001. .

References

Against all Odds: MIT’s Pioneering Women of Landscape Architecture

Designing Woman: Martha Brookes Hutcheson
* Thoren, Roxi. “Dreaming True�
Places Journal
2018.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hutcheson, Martha Brookes American landscape architects 1871 births 1959 deaths Women landscape architects New York School of Applied Design for Women alumni People from Chester Township, New Jersey