OF LANDSCAPE ARCHITECTS 



91 



ning of its existence. In 1903 he was 

 elected President of the American So- 

 ciety of Landscape Architects, having 

 been one of the original group associat- 

 ing to form the latter society, indeed 

 having been one of the prime powers to- 

 ward its formation. 



His home in New Rochellc. which he 

 built in 1890 and occupied until a few- 

 years ago, he designed with a view of 

 illustrating what a landscape architect 

 could do with a half-acre jilot. Rather 

 than adhere to a general fixed scheme 

 and a conventional design, with sym- 

 metrical balancing of parts, he preferred 

 to develop within this area individual 

 features of landscape design. His gar- 

 den, therefore, was actually divided into 

 irregular sections, and here he instituted 

 a variety of garden types : the old fash- 

 ioned Colonial garden, the Japanese. 

 Roman, and Moorish gardens, and Eng- 

 lish topiary work. By the use of his cel- 

 lar, which was opened to the garden level 

 and through which a long vista con- 

 tinued, he devised what he was pleased 

 to describe as a Normandy peasant's 

 sitting room, a German peasant's kitchen, 

 a Pompeian Court and other details of 

 interest. A little brook at the rear of 

 the property materially added in the for- 

 mation of picturesque effects, and the 

 garden was replete with i)leasant little 

 nooks and surprises at every turn. 



Mr. Barrett's work was always of strik- 

 ing originality and his imaginative pow- 

 ers were without bounds. He despised 

 the conventional and was never content 

 to be bound by precedents. Describing 

 one of his works, a newspaper account 

 quotes his words as follows; 



"111 every instance the effect produced 

 is suggestive and the critic must grasp 

 what lies beyond. The charm of this de- 

 sign lies in its variety, its lack of conven- 

 tionality, the absence of mass in color, 

 the absence of shrub borders and little 

 patches of green grass, so often called 

 lawns. The poppy and the ground ivy. 



and creeping Charlie and myrtle mingle 

 together ; the aster and goldenrod feel at 

 home; ferns and mosses are used liberal- 

 ly, and while ahandun is aimed at. there 

 is 'method in the madness,' and the wild 

 garden and the formal play their part, 

 each enhancing the charm of the other." 

 Referring to his comment on "mass in 

 color," an expression of his is recollected 

 in which he contrasts the virtues of 

 "color s])ots" and "color masses." "Com- 

 pare one beautiful diamond, against a bit 

 of black velvet, with a diamond necklace 

 boldly displayed, — which is the more 

 satisfving to the eye?" Continuing he 

 would say, when the formal and the in- 

 formal were being discussed : "The form- 

 al garden is a gem, therefore should be 

 an attachment, a pendant, to the house: 

 — away from the house, an area you enter 

 and pass through, but never a part of the 

 general scene." He had an apt manner 

 of expression and could illustrate the 

 point of his argument most successfully 

 through quaint anecdote or apt simile. 

 Garden ])ictures in magazines he would not 

 consider as wholly faithful. "Take a grill 

 gate," he would say, "A couple of posts 

 and some trees, and perhaps you would 

 have something for a good photograph, 

 but such is a representation of only a 

 meagre detail of the real art of the land- 

 scape architect." Mr. Barrett's view of 

 landscape was always that which com- 

 prehended the artistic possibilities first. 

 If at some time this would occasion a de- 

 parture from the natural or straightfor- 

 ward method of development, and his 

 client mij;ht experience certain prelimi- 

 ary qualms, he could at least be always 

 assured that the ultimate production 

 would be something unique and interest- 

 ing, and decidedly worth while. Mr. 

 Barrett's mind would at once compre- 

 hend possibilities far beyond the powers 

 of the average lay mind ; indeed, he pos- 

 sessed this qualification to a greater de- 

 gree, in the writer's opinion, than any of 

 his contemjjoraries in the landscape art. 



