Object Details
- General
- Beginning around 1928, Fletcher Steele worked over a period of years designing a garden for Standish and Dorothy Backus at their new home in Grosse Pointe Shores. Featuring architectural work by Ralph Adams Cram and Robert O. Derrick, the entire estate, including the gardens, reflected its owners' love of English Gothic-Tudor design elements. Yet the natural setting allowed Steele to incorporate such elements as broad lawns and a view leading to Lake St. Clair. A wild garden, terraces, formal gardens, and courtyards were accented by a variety of balustrades, obelisks, and other ornaments, including an endpost featuring relief portraits of Steele, Cram, and Derrick. Some of Steele's proposals were never realized, and following the death of Dorothy Backus in the 1960s (Standish Backus had died in 1943) the estate was sold, the house razed, and the gardens destroyed. Most of the images have been taken from published sources, although those sources often reproduce original documentation. There is also one image of a sketch by Thomas Warren Sears, perhaps an unrealized proposal for the Grosse Pointe Shores property or a design created for an earlier Backus residence.
- Persons and firms associated with the garden include Fletcher Steele (landscape architect, 1928-1941); Thomas Warren Sears (landscape architect, ca. 1930-1940); Ralph Adams Cram (architect, ca. 1930); Robert O. Derrick (architect, ca. 1930); Standish Backus (former owner, 1928-1943); and Dorothy Backus (former owner, 1928-ca. 1966).
- Landscape architect
- Steele, Fletcher, 1885-1971
- Creator
- Cram, Ralph Adams, 1863-1942
- Former owner
- Backus, Standish, 1875-1943
- Backus, Dorothy
- Architect
- Derrick, Robert O.
- Landscape architect
- Sears, Thomas Warren, 1880-1966
- Collection Creator
- Sears, Thomas Warren, 1880-1966
- Sears & Wendell
- Olmsted Brothers
- Harvard University
- American Society of Landscape Architects
- Place
- Backus Garden (Grosse Pointe Shores, Michigan)
- United States of America -- Michigan -- Wayne County -- Grosse Pointe -- Grosse Pointe Shores
- Topic
- Gardens -- Michigan -- Grosse Pointe Shores
- Landscape architect
- Steele, Fletcher, 1885-1971
- Creator
- Cram, Ralph Adams, 1863-1942
- Former owner
- Backus, Standish, 1875-1943
- Backus, Dorothy
- Architect
- Derrick, Robert O.
- Landscape architect
- Sears, Thomas Warren, 1880-1966
- See more items in
- Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection
- Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection / Series 1: Photographic Images / United States / Michigan
- Archival Repository
- Archives of American Gardens
- Identifier
- AAG.SRS, File MI024
- Type
- Archival materials
- Slides (photographs)
- Collection Citation
- Smithsonian Institution, Archives of American Gardens, Thomas Warren Sears photograph collection.
- Collection Rights
- Archives of American Gardens encourages the use of its archival materials for non-commercial, educational and personal use under the fair use provision of U.S. copyright law. Use or copyright restrictions may exist. It is incumbent upon the researcher to ascertain copyright status and assume responsibility for usage. All requests for duplication and use must be submitted in writing and approved by Archives of American Gardens. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Bibliography
- Garden has been featured in Robin Karson, Fletcher Steele, Landscape Architect: An Account of the Gardenmaker's Life (New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc./Sagapress, Inc., 1989) and revised ed. (Amherst: Library of American Landscape History, 2003). Garden has been featured in Stanley Schuler, America's Great Private Gardens (New York: Macmillan, 1967), pp. 66-73.
- Genre/Form
- Slides (photographs)
- Scope and Contents
- The folder includes worksheets, photocopies of publications about the garden, and additional information.
- Collection Restrictions
- Access to original archival materials by appointment only. Researcher must submit request for appointment in writing. Certain items may be restricted and not available to researchers. Please direct reference inquiries to the Archives of American Gardens: aag@si.edu.
- Record ID
- ebl-1562707900944-1562707901984-3
