Post-War Designed Landscapes: Heritage Values and Forgotten Spaces
Luca Csepely-Knorr and Karen Fitzsimon
In a new series of articles for the Society, Luca Csepely-Knorr and Karen Fitzsimon explore the evolution and impact of landscape architecture in the post-war era. Here they introduce the development of the profession from the mid-20th century, and the recent surge in efforts to protect and promote its diverse achievements.
This series is published in conjunction with the upcoming lecture series ‘England’s Post-war Designed Landscapes: Rediscovered and Revalued’ at the Gardens Trust, and the current series of events on post-war infrastructure with an associated exhibition by Jen Orpin at the Modernist Society.
The Gibberd Garden, Harlow, Essex (1957–84) by Frederick Gibberd. Photo: Karen Fitzsimon.
In August 2020, Historic England announced the addition of 24 new post-war designed landscapes, or elements, to the National Heritage List for England. The announcement was an important step towards a more nuanced understanding of the post-1945 landscape architectural heritage of Britain. While the work of key designers such as Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe or Dame Sylvia Crowe is well known, the extent and impact of post-war landscape architecture on Britain’s urban and rural areas is yet to be fully appreciated.
Now in their matured state, designed landscapes of the post-war period are key recreational and ecological assets. While the Covid-19 pandemic and the climate crisis have brought the important contribution that green spaces make to well-being, everyday social life and fighting climate change to the forefront of discussions, these spaces are still too often facing redevelopment and redesign. This series aims to highlight some overarching questions, while also focusing on some lesser-known designers, to contribute to new discussions about the importance of post-war landscape architecture
The decades after the end of the Second World War were decisive in the development of landscape architecture in the UK. Members of the Institute of Landscape Architects (today the Landscape Institute), originally founded in 1929, worked tirelessly during the war to position the profession as a key player in the reconstruction. This work manifested in key reports, such as the evidence the Institute submitted to the New Towns Committee at the Ministry of Town and Country Planning in 1946, or the policy document ‘Roads in the Landscape’ published in collaboration with the Ministry of Transport that same year.
The Institute’s work during the War led to the profession’s focus changing from garden design towards large-scale landscape planning. As Sylvia Crowe, leading designer, campaigner and later President of the Institute, remembered in her unpublished talk held at the Museum of English Rural Life,
‘before the war landscape design was confined almost entirely to the creation of gardens and parks; even if some industry called in a landscape architect it was with the idea of creating a garden round their buildings … Gradually this is changing: the pressure of population, transport and economics is upsetting the balance of great areas of landscape, and it is evident that positive design is needed to restore them to a state of balance. A balance which will include changed land uses, new structures, and usually a higher density of human use’
The modernisation of Britain required new housing estates, universities, industrial estates, motorways, power stations, airports and entirely new towns, and landscape architecture was deployed in these novel and emerging situations. From being a small organisation of people dealing mostly with private clients and garden design, at the 50th anniversary of the Institute in 1979, Brenda Colvin reported that ‘landscape consultants are seen as essential members of the team in almost every major work undertaken in this country’.
Slide at the Brunel Estate, Westbourne Park Road, London (1973–74) by Michael Brown. Photo: Luca Csepely-Knorr.
In parallel to the questions of creating new landscapes, the conservation of existing ones came into the focus of professional debates, and in 1966 the Garden History Society (GHS) was established as the academic voice for heritage-designed landscapes, with its journal Garden History first published in 1969.The GHS started to compile county lists of heritage landscapes, and by the 1970s it became clear that some form of authoritative register was required, which could later help protect the most important sites. This was made possible by the Historic Buildings and Ancient Monuments Act 1953, with its provision for the compilation of a register of gardens and other land. The Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest in England was eventually established in 1983, with a focus on designed landscapes of significance in both urban and rural settings. The Register is held by Historic England and can be accessed through the National Heritage List for England (NHLE). Registered parks and gardens, like listed buildings, are designated in terms of significance as Grade I (of exceptional interest, around 9% of registered sites), Grade II* (particularly important, of more than special interest, around 28% of registered sites) and Grade II (of special interest, warranting every effort to preserve, around 63% of registered sites).
The GHS merged with the Association of Gardens Trusts in 2015 and reformed as the Gardens Trust. Like the GHS before, the Gardens Trust is a statutory consultee in the planning system thus must be consulted by the Local Planning Authority before any decision is made on planning applications that affect gardens and landscapes, or their settings, on the Register. And, while registered parks and gardens of special historic interest are not afforded the same level of statutory protection as listed buildings, their presence on the Register means that their significance and setting is a material consideration in the assessment of any planning application.
While appreciation of the heritage value of post-war architecture has increased in recent years, the designed landscapes of the period are often neglected, despite the case that they can be a key component to the success of architectural and planning projects. Although the NHLE holds over 400,000 entries, only 1600 or so are registered designed landscapes, and of these only approximately 49 are post-war. The first of the period to be added to the Register was the Gibberd Garden in Essex – the former home of architect and planner Sir Frederick Gibberd – which was included in 1995 as ‘The House, Marsh Lane’. Over the following 25 years, a further 25 sites were added, ranging from private gardens, parks, office headquarters, housing, civic spaces and university landscapes as well as cemeteries, crematoria and memorial gardens. Yet these just touched on the range of output by the landscape profession and often sites were destroyed before they could be assessed for registration.
Landscape by Dan Kiley at Cummins Engine Factory, Darlington (1964–66). Photo: Historic England Archives.
By 2015, indignation was in the air following the demolition of the previously registered designed landscape of the Commonwealth Institute, London. The 1962 work, with buildings by RMJM and landscape by Dame Sylvia Crowe, was considered to be an excellent expression of unity between architecture and landscape, and although elements of the associated Grade II* architecture were retained, the Grade II landscape was deemed expendable, ironically for a redevelopment that included a new home for the Design Museum. In response the Gardens Trust launched ‘Compiling the Record’, a campaign to gather nominations from the public and the profession of post-war designed landscapes that they thought worthy of protection. Partnering with Historic England, the project came to fruition in August 2020. The range of sites added is exciting and, for some, unexpected, including the listing of a playground with a death-defying embankment slide and a factory design by Dan Kiley, a founding father of American modernist landscape architecture.
Related initiatives indicative of this welcome increase in academic and popular interest include conferences and publications such as the ‘Mid- to Late 20th-Century Designed Landscapes: Overlooked, Undervalued and at Risk?’ symposium organised by the Gardens Trust in 2017; last year’s 100 20th-Century Gardens and Landscapes book published by the Twentieth Century Society; and the current ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure’ research project at the Manchester School of Architecture.
Luca Csepely-Knorr is a chartered landscape architect and art historian, working as Reader at the Manchester School of Architecture. Her research centres on the history of late 19th and 20th century landscape architecture, with a particular emphasis on the development of the design theory of public spaces. She is Co-Investigator of the AHRC funded project ‘Landscapes of Post-War Infrastructure: Culture, Amenity, Heritage and Industry’ and co-convener of the multidisciplinary conference and research network ‘How Women Build?’.
Twitter: @lucaknorr Instagram: lucaknorr
Karen Fitzsimon is a chartered landscape architect, garden historian and horticulturalist. She has extensive experience of working in the public and private sector across a range of landscape projects. She co-curated the 2017 Gardens Trust symposium ‘Mid- to Late 20th–Century Designed Landscapes: Overlooked, Undervalued and At Risk?’ and co-designed and managed the associated ‘Compiling the Record’ campaign. She worked with Historic England on its ‘Modern Gardens and Landscapes’ project and was a member of its post-war landscape expert panel that led to the addition of 24 sites, or elements of sites, to the National Heritage List for England in 2020. She is currently undertaking doctoral research at University of Westminster about the landscape practice of Preben Jakobsen within the context of British post-war landscape architecture.
Twitter: @KarenFitzsimon Instagram: karen_fitzsimon