Fletcher Steele (1885-1971) was an American landscape architect credited with designing and creating over 700 gardens from 1915 to the time of his death.

Born John Fletcher Steele in Rochester, New York, United States, his desire to design started at a young age. He was born to very career oriented parents with his father being a lawyer and his mother being a pianist. His parents pushed him to make sure he got into a upstanding school. Steele spent his college years at Williams College in Massachusetts. After finishing there he joined the Landscape architecture Graduate program at Harvard in 1907. One of the great United States Landscape Architects, Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. was one of Steele's professors while at harvard. In 1908 Fletcher dropped his course at Harvard when he learned he had been offered an pprenticeship with Warren Manning. In 1913 Steele embarked on a four month tour of Europe where he hoped to learn about the European design. Upon arriving back in America, he decided to found his own practice.

Steele influence many people and many ideas. His biggest influence on a movement was the transition from the Art Deco to Modernism. He is often thought to be the key figure in that movement. He was so inluential because of his creativity with shapes and his knowledge of spatial design. He also had a big impact Modernism because of how he influenced the younger design students at Harvard. He showed Kiley, Garrett Eckbo, and Rose the possiblities of modern art and the creativity behind the design process. Eckbo states "Fletcher Steele was the transitional figure between the old guard and the moderns. He interests me because he was an experimenter." Kiley states that "Steele was the only good disigner working during the twenties and thirties, also the only one who was really interested in new things."

Steele had a number of major works, that he is well known for. They include Naumkeag  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/Naumkeag.htm), Ancrum House  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/Ancrum.htm), Whitney Allen House  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/Whitall.htm), Standish Backus House  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/Backus.htm), Turner House  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/Turner.htm), Lisborne Grange  (http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/steele/lisburne.htm). His most famous work was by far Naumkeag.

These projects are great examples that show the creativity of Fletcher Steele. They also show the reason why he was regarded as the key figure in the transition to modernism.

These projects were not all viewed with high regard at this time. Now that we have moved into a different era of design, it has been only recently that people have started to appreciate the great impact Fletcher Steele had on garden design, and landscape architecture.

He is interred in the Mount Hope Cemetery in Rochester, New York.

External Links and Sources

 http://cela2002.esf.edu/research/Steele/Home.htm http://www.gardenvisit.com/b/steele.htm