Thomas Church, Landscape Architect: Oral History

Thomas Church (1902–1978) fundamentally changed how Americans approached residential landscape design. This 512-page oral history captures his methodology, design philosophy, and the social context of postwar California residential design. Church rejected formal European garden models in favor of the 'outdoor room'—a living space that extended the home into the landscape. The transcript documents his relationships with clients and architects, his design evolution from the 1950s forward, and his influence on subsequent generations of landscape architects. His work remains central to understanding modernist residential garden design in America, and his emphasis on accessibility and functional outdoor living space became canonical in American landscape practice.