Marian Cruger Coffin: Pioneer Landscape Artist
Commemorative Lecture Marking the Centennial of Her Seaside Garden, Designed for J. Kennedy Tod on his Tod’s Point Estate.
Thursday Evening, October 14, 2021
6:30 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
The Knollwood Garden Club of Greenwich is pleased to offer its inaugural commemorative lecture on Marian Cruger Coffin (1876-1957), to be given by Nancy
Fleming, author of the book, “Money, Manure, and Maintenance – Ingredients for the Successful Gardens of Marian Coffin” (Country Place Books, Weston, MA, 1995). The event will be held on Thursday, October 14 at the Vanderbilt Education Center of the Greenwich Historical Society. Doors open at 6:30 pm with the lecture and reception held from 7:00 pm to 8:30 pm
Ms. Fleming’s lecture will illuminate the substantial and unique contributions of Marian Cruger Coffin which shaped the field of landscape architecture and garden design during the first half of the 20th century. The event includes a book signing and refreshments at the conclusion of the lecture. While admission is free, donations are welcome; $25 suggested donation. Seating limited; reservations advised. For reservations and information please contact the Knollwood Garden Club at 203-661-6856 or email apalladio@mac.com. All proceeds from the lecture will be devoted to Marian Cruger Coffin’s Seaside Garden, located on Greenwich Point.
Graduating at age 28 after completing her studies in Landscape Architecture at MIT in 1904, Coffin successfully obtained her initial commissions by capitalizing on her family’s East Coast social connections. Her most important connection was her lifelong friend, Henry Francis DuPont, who, when he inherited the family estate, Winterthur, Delaware, in 1908, engaged Coffin to develop and execute a comprehensive landscape design for Winterthur.
In Greenwich, Connecticut, the noted industrialist, J. Kennedy Tod, commissioned Coffin to design the original Seaside Garden for his estate Innis Arden, located on Tod’s Point. Begun in 1918 and completed in 1920, the Seaside Garden celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2020 – and will be highlighted in this lecture.
Coffin’s obvious talents made her one of the most sought-afterpractioners of her time with commissions from prominent family estate owners including Senator H. Alexander Smith, Mr. and Mrs. Marshall Field, Mr. and Mrs. Edward Hutton, the Vanderbilts, and Hattie Carnegie. The distinguishing characteristics of these gardens which helped build Coffin’s legacy will be featured in this lecture. In 1930, Coffin was honored with the Gold Medal of the Architectural League of New York. Nancy Fleming, our lecturer, is a landscape historian who presently lives in Sunapee, New Hampshire.
A graduate of Mount Holyoke College and the Radcliffe Program in landscape design, she was the principal in her own landscape design firm while living in Weston, Massachusetts and lectures regularly throughout the Northeast. Her book on Coffin had its roots in the requirements for her Radcliffe Program degree. A native of Wilmington, Delaware, she married her childhood friend, Samuel C. Fleming, and raised two sons.
The Knollwood Garden Club expresses its thanks to the Greenwich Historical Society for our holding this event in its Vanderbilt Education Center The Marian Cruger Coffin Commemorative Lecture will be offered biennially by the Knollwood Garden Club, given by leading experts, devoted to seminal ideas and historical developments in landscape architecture, garden design, horticulture, and botany – and their impact on our communities and the profession.
The Knollwood Garden Club is a 501(c)(3) non-profit member of the Federated Garden Clubs of Connecticut, Inc., supporting their mission to protect our natural resources, preserve our heritage, and promote civic beauty.
The Greenwich Sentinel received this as a press release. The Greenwich Sentinel news department was not involved in the creation of this content.
