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Florence Holmes Gerke

Florence Holmes Gerke
Florence Holmes Gerke (1923)
Born
Florence Holmes Hill

February 16, 1898
Portland, Oregon, U.S.
DiedAugust 22, 1964 (aged 66)
Portland, Oregon
Alma mater
OccupationLandscape architect
SpouseWalter Henry Gerke
Children1
Parents
  • Joseph A. Hill
  • Edith Knight Holmes Hill
RelativesMary Holmes Goodall (sister)
PracticeMunicipal Landscape Architect, City of Portland
DesignInternational Rose Test Garden

Florence Holmes Gerke (1896–1964) was an American landscape architect and newspaper editor.

Early life and education

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Florence Holmes Hill[1] was born in Portland, Oregon, February 16, 1898. Her father was Joseph A. Hill.[2] Her mother, Edith Knight Holmes Hill, was acolumnist for The Oregonian, while her sister, Mary Holmes Goodall, was a columnist for The Oregon Daily Journal.[3]

In her early life, Gerke was a resident of San Francisco and Oakland, California.[2]

She was a graduate of the Oregon State Agricultural College in Landscape Architecture. She studied gardens in Europe, and took a post graduate course at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, Cambridge, Massachusetts. She also attended Museum Art School at the Portland Art Museum.[2]

Career

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Gerke served as municipal Landscape Architect for the City of Portland and designed Grant Park, Irving Park, Dawson Park, and Eastmoreland's Shakespeare Garden.[3] She designed the International Rose Test Garden and the amphitheater[4] at Washington Park and many features of Portland parks and playgrounds. She also designed the planting for Shriners Hospital for Children, and several other public and private institutions.[2] With her husband, she worked on the gardens at Lloyd Center and Dammasch State Hospital.[3]

Gerke wrote many articles for leading technical magazines on landscaping, as well as in American Home, House Beautiful, and Sunset. She served as club and society editor at the Portland Telegram before becoming an editor for The Oregon Daily Journal,[3] where she wrote a weekly series.[5]

She was a member of the Professional Woman's League, Chi Omega. She made her home in Faloma, Multnomah County, Oregon.[2]

Personal life

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She married Walter Henry Gerke (c. 1891–1982), a landscape architect.[6] They had a daughter, Marianne.[2]

Florence Holmes Gerke died in Portland, Oregon, August 22, 1964.[3][5]

The Walter H. and Florence Holmes Gerke landscape architecture drawings and photographs are held by the University of Oregon Libraries.[7]

Selected works

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References

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  1. ^ Birnbaum, Charles A.; Crowder, Lisa E. (1993). Pioneers of American Landscape Design: An Annotated Bibliography. U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Cultural Resources, Preservation Assistance Division, Historic Landscape Initiative. p. 139. ISBN 978-0-16-041974-4. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Binheim, Max; Elvin, Charles A. (1928). Women of the West: A Series of Biographical Sketches of Living Eminent Women in the Eleven Western States of the United States of America. Publishers Press. p. 159. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Wikisource. Public Domain This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Obituary: Landscape Designer, Editor Dies". The Oregon Daily Journal. 24 August 1964. p. 6. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  4. ^ "Washington Park - International Rose Test Garden". portland.gov. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  5. ^ a b "Rites Slates For Designer". The Oregonian. 25 August 1964. p. 27. Retrieved 27 August 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  6. ^ "Walter H. and Florence Holmes Gerke landscape architecture drawings and photographs - Archives West". archiveswest.orbiscascade.org. Retrieved 27 August 2024.
  7. ^ "Gerke, Florence Holmes, 1896-1964". Retrieved 27 August 2024.
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