![]() ![]() My artistic yearnings lay fallow until I realized it was necessary to earn my living. my desire to create beauty was strong, I did not seem to possess talent for music, writing, painting or sculpture, at the time, the only outlet a woman had to express any artistic ability. but that dream seemed in no way possible of realization. I secretly cherished the idea of being a great artist. She chose the latter, despite the fact that (as noted by Martha Brookes Hutcheson, another early female landscape architect) "it was considered almost social suicide and distinctly matrimonial suicide, for a woman to enter any profession." She aspired to find a creative role but recognized the difficulties she faced, as she later wrote: Īs a relatively impoverished member of the upper class, Coffin had no independent income and faced a choice between finding a rich husband or taking up a professional career. She was instead tutored at home, where she also enjoyed the benefits of exposure to fine art and music and became an accomplished horse rider. However, she received almost no formal education, a deficiency that caused significant problems for her in her college years. but simply the great outdoor world." Īlthough the Coffins had little money, their life with Alice's upper-class relatives gave Marian an almost aristocratic upbringing that introduced her to high society on the East Coast and enabled her to make social connections that were to be extremely valuable in later life. She found the beautiful scenery of the area, set in the Finger Lakes of upper New York state, an inspiration she later wrote, "even as a small girl, I loved the country, not so much gardens and growing things, for I had no experience with these. ![]() During her childhood years, Coffin and her mother, Alice (née Church), lived with relatives in Geneva, New York. Among her most notable creations were the gardens of Gibraltar in Wilmington, Delaware, the campus plan of the University of Delaware, the gardens of the Caumsett estate (now Caumsett State Historic Park), and the gardens of the Winterthur estate (now Winterthur Museum, Garden and Library).Įarly life Coffin with her mother, AliceĬoffin was born into a wealthy upper-class family in Scarborough, New York, but grew up almost penniless due to the death of her father, Julian Ravenel Coffin, when she was seven. ![]() During her career she worked on over 130 commissions, including dozens of major estate gardens. Īlthough the number of her commissions was greatly reduced after the onset of the Great Depression in 1930, she continued working almost until her death in 1957 at the age of 80. Coffin's clientele included some of the wealthiest and most famous families in the country, including the Fricks, the Vanderbilts, the Huttons, and the du Ponts. By the 1920s she was one of the most sought-after landscape architects in the eastern United States. Her increasing fame led to larger commissions from wealthy and powerful East Coast families. She was one of the first American women to work as a professional landscape architect. She set up her own practice in New York City in 1905, starting out by designing suburban gardens on Long Island. ![]() Īfter graduating Coffin was unable to find work with established architectural firms, due to widespread prejudice against a woman working in a male-dominated field. Coffin was determined to embark on a career despite the social problems that it would cause for a woman of her class and enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied between 1901–4 as one of only four women in architecture and landscape design. As a child, she received almost no formal education but was home-tutored while living with her maternal relatives in upstate New York. Marian Cruger Coffin (Septem– February 2, 1957) was an American landscape architect who became famous for designing numerous gardens for members of the East Coast elite. Gibraltar, Winterthur, and Caumsett gardens ![]()
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