Brendonwood Cultural Landscape Report Will Mark Its 30th Anniversary: 1988–2018 This year will mark the 30th anniversary of the Brendonwood cultural landscape report. As a graduate student in Ball State University’s College of Architecture and Planning, I sought to amplify Brendonwood’s significance as a cultural landscape—placing it in the context of American urban planning history. While Brendonwood had always been admired for its natural beauty and fine homes, it had never been fully appreciated or defined as a designed historic landscape. Brendonwood is exemplary of City Beautiful Movement planning principles and landscape architectural trends promulgated from the 1890s through the advent of the Second World War. It was also reflective of George Edward Kessler’s talent—the accomplished landscape architect whose opus included Roland Park in Baltimore and the comprehensive plans for both the Kansas City, Missouri park system and the Indianapolis park system. It was for a good reason that Charles S. Lewis selected Kessler for the project and proudly touted his involvement. I grew up in Brendonwood and it was a magical place. My family lived there from 1959 to 1970 and my memories still burn bright, whether it was romping through the wooded hills of the Serpentine, charging down High Fall Road on our Schwinn Stingray bikes at exhilarating speeds, or the countless hours swimming at the Commons pool under the glimmering summer sun. These activities are just what Brendonwood’s creator Charles Sumner Lewis envisioned—a community of “country-seats” in a verdurous landscape where children would thrive in the fresh air and sunshine.
While in graduate school, I was reacquainted with Brendonwood. However, I did not return as a resident but rather as a historian to document its place in American landscape history. An internship for the Massachusetts Association for Olmsted Parks, at the Olmsted National Historic Site, prepared me for the task. This experience recalibrated my preservation curricula and awakened an appreciation of historic landscapes. As such, my focus became trained on Kessler’s work on the Indianapolis park system and to a familiar favorite, Brendonwood. The 1980s were a watershed for cultural landscape preservation. After years of profound neglect and mismanagement, the Central Park Conservancy was formed in 1980 to rehabilitate the masterwork of Olmsted and Vaux. This public-private partnership rescued an iconic landscape and raised public awareness about similar cultural resources throughout the country. Senator Daniel Patrick Moynihan was also sponsoring the Olmsted Heritage Landscapes Act of 1985, which ostensibly commemorated the legacy of Frederick Law Olmsted and promulgated the study of historic landscapes. Indeed, landscape architecture was now being appreciated for its cultural contributions to our built environment and Brendonwood would benefit too— recognized as a legacy upon the landscape. I’m proud that my initial research in 1988 amplified its import and set in motion its listing in the National Register of Historic Places. In 2004, the Brendonwood Historic District was certified by the Indiana State Historic Preservation Office. James O’Day, ASLA Washington, DC 2018
Image: Indiana Historical Society