Jens Jensen (landscape architect)
Jens Jensen | |
---|---|
Superintendent of the Chicago Park District | |
Personal details | |
Born | near Dybbøl, Duchy of Schleswig (now Denmark) | September 13, 1860
Died | October 1, 1951 The Clearing Folk School, United States | (aged 91)
Spouse | Anne Marie Hansen |
Jens Jensen (September 13, 1860 – October 1, 1951) was a
Biography
Jens Jensen was born near
United States
Initially Jensen worked in Florida, and then at Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, before moving to Chicago and taking a job as a laborer for the West Park Commission. He was soon promoted to a foreman. During this time he was allowed to design and plant a garden of exotic flowers. When the garden withered and died, he traveled into the surrounding prairie and transplanted native wildflowers. Jensen transplanted the wildflowers into a corner of Union Park, creating what became the American Garden in 1888.
Working his way through the park system, Jensen was appointed superintendent of the 200 acre (800,000 m²) Humboldt Park in 1895. By the late 1890s, the West Park Commission was entrenched in corruption. After refusing to participate in political graft, Jensen was ousted by a dishonest park board in 1900. He was eventually reinstated and by 1905 he was general superintendent of the entire West Park System in Chicago. His design work for the city can be seen at Garfield Park, Humboldt Park, Douglass Park, Pulaski Park, Columbus Park, The North Park Village Nature Center water fall and pond.
Jensen helped establish the Forest Preserve District of Cook County, and selected many of the sites eventually acquired by the Forest Preserve District.[2]
He also helped establish Jens Jensen Park near his home and the Ravinia Music Festival grounds, as well as the grounds of nearby Green Bay and Ravinia elementary schools.[3]
In the 1910s, Jensen played a role in building support for the preservation of part of the
Private practice
In 1920, he retired from the park system and started his own landscape architecture practice. He worked on private estates and municipal parks throughout the U.S. He was commissioned by Eleanor and Edsel Ford for four residences, three in Michigan and one in Maine, between 1922 and 1935.[5] Other projects included the Morse Dell Plain House and Garden (1926) at Hammond, Indiana and the William Whitaker Landscape and House (1929) at Crown Point, Indiana.
A major landscape project, with
He also designed the gardens for Edsel and Eleanor's summer estate 'Skylands' in Bar Harbor on Mount Desert Island in Maine (1922).[9][10] Jensen did design work for their two other Michigan residences, one being 'Haven Hill,' between 1922 and 1935.[5] 'Haven Hill', now within the Highland Recreation Area near White Lake Township in southeastern Michigan, is designated as both a Michigan State Historical Landmark and State Natural Preserve. Jensen's landscape elements, with the diversity of tree, plant and animal life, combine aesthetics, history and nature.[11][12]
For Clara and
Jensen did other projects for Henry Ford including:
In 1935, after the death of his wife, Jensen moved from Highland Park, Illinois to Ellison Bay, Wisconsin where he established The Clearing Folk School, which he called a "school of the soil" to train future landscape architects. It is now preserved as open space and an education center in the folk school tradition.[15]
In his maturity, Jensen designed
Jens Jensen died at his home, now The Clearing Folk School on October 1, 1951, at the age of 91.[1]
Collaborations
Jens Jensen partnered with architect
See also
- History of landscape architecture
- History of gardens
References
- ^ New York Times. Associated Press. October 2, 1951. Retrieved 2015-09-10.
Jens Jensen, dean of the world's landscape architects, died today in his home at Ellison Bay, Wis., after a long illness. He was 91 years old.
- ^ Samuel Kling, "Regional Plans and Regional Plants: Jens Jensen's Vernacular Landscape and Metropolitan Planning in Chicago, 1904-1920," Journal of Urban History 44.6 (November 2018): 1154-1175. [1]
- ^ Bruce Ingram, "Gorton Center celebrates career of Jens Jensen", Glenview Announcements (April 5, 2018) p. 14
- ^ "Reading 3: Beauty of the Wild", U.S. National Park Service, accessed April 6, 2018.[2]
- ^ ISBN 0-8018-4287-5. pp. 102
- ISBN 0-8018-4287-5. pp. 102, 152, 157-58, 180, 160, 162-63, 174, 182.
- ISBN 0-8018-4287-5. pp. 102, 160.
- ^ "Edsel & Eleanor Fordhouse". fordhouse.org.
- ISBN 0-8018-4287-5. pp. 102, 184
- ^ "From My Home to Yours". Martha Stewart Living. June 2007. Archived from the original on 2011-07-18. Retrieved 2009-06-16.
- ^ "Haven Hill & Highland Recreation area Pictures". havenhillproject.org.
- ^ The Haven Hill Project. "Haven Hill Project – Highland Recreation area Welcome". havenhillproject.org.
- ISBN 0-8018-4287-5. pp. 50, 100-02, 159-60, 164-65
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2012-01-27. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "The Clearing Folk School". Archived from the original on 2010-02-18. Retrieved 2010-03-17.
- ^ Smith, S. & Mark, S. (2011). Marktown: Clayton Mark's Planned Worker Community in Northwest Indiana. South Shore Journal, 4. "South Shore Journal - Marktown: Clayton Mark's Planned Worker Community in Northwest Indiana". Archived from the original on 2012-09-13. Retrieved 2012-08-29.
Further reading
- Russell, Virginia L., "You Dear Old Prima Donna: The Letters of Frank Lloyd Wright and Jens Jensen," Landscape Journal 20.2 (2001): 141-155.
- Egan, Dave, and William H. Tishler. "Jens Jensen, Native Plants, and the Concept of Nordic Superiority." Landscape Journal 18.1 (1999): 11-29.
- Grese, Robert E., Jens Jensen: Maker of Natural Parks and Gardens, Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore, 1998
- Groening, Gert and Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn. "Response: If the Shoe Fits, Wear it!" Landscape Journal 13.1 (1994): 62-3.
- Groening, Gert, and Joachim Wolschke-Bulmahn. "Some Notes on the Mania for Native Plants in Germany." Landscape Journal 11.2 (1992): 116-26.
- Kling, Samuel. "Regional Plans and Regional Plants: Jens Jensen's Vernacular Landscape and Metropolitan Planning in Chicago, 1904-1920." Journal of Urban History 44.6 (November 2018): 1154-1175. [3]
- Sorvig, Kim. "Natives and Nazis: An Imaginary Conspiracy in Ecological Design, Commentary on G. Groening and J. Wolschke-Bulmahn's "Some Notes on the Mania for Native Plants in Germany"." Landscape Journal 13.1 (1994): 58-61.
- Telfer, Sid, The Jens Jensen I Knew
- (uncited) "Jensen Will Open School of Nature" (continued) Door County Advocate, Volume 74, Number 14, June 14, 1935
External links
- The Cultural Landscape Foundation, "It Takes One: Carey Lundin"
- Official website of the film Jens Jensen The Living Green.
- Jens Jensen Legacy Project
- Official 'The Clearing' website
- Official Edsel & Eleanor Ford 'Gaukler Point' website – gardens and museum.
- Official Edsel & Eleanor Ford 'Haven Hill' museum website.
- Official Henry Ford 'Fair Lane' website – gardens and museum.
- Virtual tour of the Henry and Clara Ford 'Fair Lane' estate.
- [4] – Chicago Wilderness Magazine: "Jens Jensen" — Spring 2001 issue.
- Forest Preserve District: Jens Jensen Archived 2015-02-26 at the Wayback Machine
- [5] – Highland park history: artists
- Sterling Morton Library[permanent dead link] – Landscape drawings in the Suzette Morton Davidson Special Collections.
- "Chicago's Columbus Park:The Prairie Idealized" – a National Park Service Teaching with Historic Places (TwHP) lesson plan.
- Designing in the Prairie Spirit An online film that features Jensen's influences on landscape design today.