Today, we are happy to bring you our conversation with Mark H. Hough, author of Design through Time: Evolving Landscapes, from Alcatraz to Prospect Park

What inspired you to write this book? 

Working in a stewardship role for historic landscapes for more than 25 years has inspired me to learn more about the stories behind other such places and to document how they change over time and are influenced and impacted by the often-unheralded people who manage them. I had previously written about this general topic in numerous magazines and journals and toyed with the idea of writing a book, but I wasn’t ready to take that plunge until Boyd Zenner, a former acquisitions editor at UVA Press, asked me if I ever thought about writing one. It was then that I knew I wanted to continue and expand upon my writing focused on this subject, which I believe remains sadly under-documented.

What did you learn and what are you hoping readers will learn from your book? 

I learned a lot, especially about the common challenges faced by various types of public and institutional landscapes as they evolve over decades or even centuries. As different as they may be aesthetically and programmatically, they still have to deal with strikingly similar cultural, economic, ecological, and, increasingly, climatological issues affecting their quality and relevance as they age. I would say the main thing I hope readers learn is that while we rightfully celebrate the contributions of designers and landscape architects—famous and not—we should also recognize and value the influence of generations of people who have worked quietly and passionately to maintain, manage, and enhance this country’s collection of cultural landscapes.

What surprised you the most in the process of writing your book? 

I went into this book with a lot of first-hand practical knowledge and quite a bit of previous research so I wasn’t anticipating many surprises. That being said, one thing that did pleasantly surprise me was how many non-designers—among them botanists, horticulturalists, administrators, politicians, and idly rich financiers—have taken active roles in stewarding parks, gardens, cemeteries, and other designed landscapes. That these people have been able to not only understand and appreciate the inherent value of the landscapes they oversee but also advocate effectively on their behalf, is why we still have places that have managed to survive and, hopefully, continue to thrive. Less surprising is how many of these places have already been lost without the same level of commitment and intervention.

What’s your favorite anecdote from your book?

The book is organized as a series of individual case studies representing various landscapes types. While I find all of them interesting, my favorite is probably the story of the gardens at Alcatraz—which originated while the island was home to a military prison and then expanded during its infamous period as “The Rock”—a federal penitentiary housing the country’s most dangerous criminals. During this time, selected inmates were allowed outside, where they designed, planted, and maintained lush gardens that added beauty to an otherwise inhospitable environment. I found the process involved in recovering these gardens after the island was taken over by the National Park Service to be inspirational, and the entire story emblematic of the civilizing power inherent in many designed landscapes.

What’s next? 

Over the past few years, I have been researching the history of Duke University’s campus landscape, which has never enjoyed the same attention from scholars and writers as the university’s architecture. As far as I can tell, I am the first person to document the forty-year collaboration between changing rosters of Duke administrators and principals in the Olmsted Brothers landscape architecture firm. In addition to being a significant component of Duke’s history, this ongoing relationship also provides insight into the evolution of the Olmsted firm, particularly as it transitioned away from the Olmsted family. I’d love to turn this into a book if I can find an interested publisher.