Sidney D. Gamble Lecture Series
PRESERVATION IN PRACTICE
A three-part lecture series featuring conversations about historic preservation at the Gamble House, and throughout greater Los Angeles.
GARDENS AND PARKS OF HISTORIC HOUSE MUSEUMS
Presentation by Ted Bosley and Denise Maior-Barron
Saturday, October 14, 2023
10:00 a.m. on Zoom
Tickets: $10 Members | $20 Non-Members
What a home is, or should be, is instinctively felt by most people. Many of us also dream of a patch of garden to call our own. The public appeal of historic house museums, and particularly of their gardens, is hardly contested. But how do gardens complement house museums? What can gardens tell the heritage tourist, even more than buildings, about a historic site? How, and why, should gardens be preserved, particularly in the context of the fraught changes—whether climatic or social—the world faces today? This presentation introduces a forthcoming publication, Gardens & Parks of Historic House Museums: Creation, Conservation, Interpretation from the University of Virginia Press, which attempts to answer these questions using scenarios from a selection of historic house museums that crisscross the globe, from the Gamble House in the U.S. to sites in Japan, South Africa, United Kingdom, Romania, Mexico, Australia, Italy, Brazil, France, Sweden, Spain and Bulgaria. We will explore examples of conservation and interpretation of landscapes, gardens and parks at a range of sites, all united by a common, double thread. The first thread is the vision of the various “creators,” whether designers, owners, gardeners, tenants or anyone whose impact has been significant on the land. The second is known in heritage studies as the “period of significance” or “Golden Age.” Both “creators” and “periods of significance” will be discussed in relation to choices made at various historic sites regarding conservation and interpretation of their associated landscapes. Also acknowledged is the need for organic change, all in relation to authenticity, a major theme throughout the book.