Ruth Shellhorn

Shellhorn in 1955

Ruth Patricia Shellhorn, FASLA (1909–2006) was among the most important Southern California landscape architects of the post-war era. Shellhorn designed more than four hundred projects over the course of six decades. The most influential of these were the landscape designs she created for the new Bullock's department stores and Fashion Square shopping centers.These were modernist landscape designs, evoking a sun-soaked, leisurely lifestyle that came to epitomize the "Southern California look."[1][2][3]

With a focus on indoor/outdoor living, she incorporated topography and nature into urban settings to create landscapes in her designs for residences, retail, city and regional parks, universities, and colleges.[4][3][5] The Los Angeles Times named her Woman of the Year for 1955.[6]

Her work on the Shoreline Development Study became a precedent for development along the California Coast.[7][8][3] She designed Bullock's department store,[9] the Fashion Square shopping centers at Santa Ana, Sherman Oaks, La Habra and Del Amo in Torrance.[10] In 1955, she was hired by Walt Disney to create a comprehensive pedestrian circulation system for Disneyland, establishing central landscaping elements of the park.[7][10]

  1. ^ Comras, Kelly (2015). "Ruth Patricia Shellhorn: Mid-century living in the Southern California landscape". Women, Modernity, and Landscape Architecture. London and New York: Routledge. pp. 165–184. ISBN 978-0-415-74587-1.
  2. ^ Comras, Kelly (2009). "Shellhorn, Ruth Patricia". Shaping the American Landscape. University of Virginia Press. pp. 317–320. ISBN 978-0-8139-2789-3.
  3. ^ a b c Comras, Kelly (April 1, 2016). Ruth Shellhorn. Vol. Masters of Modern Landscape Design Series. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press; Library of American Landscape History. ISBN 978-0820349633.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Motika was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ Kaplan, Wendy (2012). Introduction: Living a Modern Way. Cambridge: The MIT Press. p. 33.
  6. ^ "Kelly Comras Lecture on Ruth Shellhorn". www.robinsongardens.org. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  7. ^ a b "Ruth Shellhorn". The Cultural Landscape Foundation. Retrieved 2 April 2018.
  8. ^ Dümpelmann, Sonja; Beardsley, John (April 2, 2015). Women, Modernity, and Landscape Architecture. Routledge. p. 172. ISBN 978-0415745871.
  9. ^ "Ruth Shellhorn: Midcentury Landscape Design in Southern California". Library of American Landscape History. Retrieved 2018-04-01.
  10. ^ a b Noland, Claire (2006-11-12). "Ruth Shellhorn, 97; landscape architect for Bullock's, Disneyland". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2018-04-01.