Geraldine Knight Scott
| Geraldine Knight Scott | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 16, 1904 Wallace, Idaho |
| Died | August 2, 1989 (aged 85) Berkeley, California |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | University of California, Berkeley |
| Occupation | Architect |
| Awards | FASLA |
| Projects |
Golden Gate International Exposition Oakland Museum of California |
Geraldine "Gerry" Knight Scott (July 16, 1904 – August 2, 1989) was a prominent California landscape architect and a pioneering woman in the field. She taught landscape architecture at the University of California, Berkeley and was a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects. She was a founding member of the California Horticultural Society and received various awards and honors.
Geraldine Knight was born in Wallace, Idaho. She moved to the San Francisco Bay Area to live with relatives after her parents died. She decided in high school to become a landscape architect and enrolled in UC Berkeley's College of Agriculture in 1922. She received a degree in Landscape Architecture in 1926. Disappointed by the heavy emphasis on science and lack of art and design that the Berkeley’s College of Agriculture provided, Scott attended art and architecture classes at Cornell University from 1926 to 1928.
In 1928, Scott began her professional career in Southern California in the office of A.E. Hanson. Over the next two years she worked on various residential gardens and estates including the Harold Lloyd Estate in Beverly Hills.
In 1930, Scott embarked on a tour of Europe. She spent nearly two years abroad surveying historic Italian villas through the Accademia delle Arti in Rome and visiting the famous gardens of France and Spain. She also attended the Sorbonne in Paris studying housing projects in Austria and Germany. Scott returned to California in 1932 and unable to find work due to the Great Depression, returned to UC Berkeley where she studied painting with Japanese artist Chiura Obata. In 1933, she joined Helen Van Pelt’s office in Marin County and took color theory classes with Rudolph Schaeffer at the Rudolph Schaeffer School of Design.
In 1939 she married Los Angeles journalist Mellier G. Scott, with whom she shared a strong interest in urban and regional planning issues. After a trip to view housing projects in Europe, they returned to Los Angeles and Scott became the director of the Citizens Housing Council to promote public housing. She also became the first female member of the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission where she worked on recreational planning and war housing.
...
Wikipedia