Marian Cruger Coffin | |
|---|---|
 Marian Cruger Coffin in 1904 | |
| Born | September 16, 1876 Scarborough, New York, U.S. |
| Died | February 2, 1957 (aged 80) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. |
| Education | Massachusetts Institute of Technology |
| Occupation | Landscape architect |
| Notable work | Gibraltar, Winterthur, and Caumsett gardens |
Marian Cruger Coffin (September 16, 1876 – February 2, 1957) was an American landscape architect who became famous for designing numerous gardens for members of the East Coast elite. As a child, she received almost no formal education but was home-tutored while living with her maternal relatives in upstate New York. 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.[1]
After graduating Coffin was unable to find work with established architectural firms, due to widespread prejudice against a woman working in a male-dominated field. She set up her own practice in New York City in 1905, starting out by designing suburban gardens on Long Island. She was one of the first American women to work as a professional landscape architect. Her increasing fame led to larger commissions from wealthy and powerful East Coast families. By the 1920s she was one of the most sought-after landscape architects in the eastern United States. 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.[2]
Although 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. During her career she worked on over 130 commissions, including dozens of major estate gardens. 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).