LANDSLIDE: At risk
Historic UMass Pond Landscape Threatened by Construction
In 1866 the Trustees of Massachusetts Agricultural College requested that Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. provide recommendations for the grounds of the newly formed institution. Olmsted, in his report recommended that a village green be constructed at the center of the farmland campus. Constructed in 1892, the Campus Pond and its extensive surrounding lawns are an exemplar of the early use of ecological principles in landscape architecture as well as a central gathering place and focal feature of the flagship Amherst campus of the University of Massachusetts. Preservation of the landscape has been recommended by a series of nationally known landscape planners, but the current administrators of the campus view it as “vacant” land and in need of “activation” - a place for new buildings and bridges.
History
Initial creation of the elongated pond and surrounding meadows, served utilitarian purposes. The pond was developed as a source of water for orchard cultivation, fire fighting and ice. The meadows provided hay and grazing for animals quartered at the research farm, and maple trees were tapped for sap. In winter, ice hockey games were played on the pond’s ice, and in warmer weather it was the venue for a tug of war contest pitting the freshmen against the sophomores
In 1902 Frank A. Waugh joined the faculty of the college (renamed Massachusetts State College) and founded what is today the second oldest department of landscape architecture in the nation. Waugh was a pioneer in the use of early ecological principles in landscape design. Under his guidance, and in early collaboration with landscape architect Warren H. Manning, the meadows became lawns. The pond margins were allowed to soften with native emergent wetland plants and a few carefully selected trees of different species were planted in the lawns for visual contrast and diversity. Waugh influenced the site selection of buildings placed on the bordering ridges and landscaped the transition zones between the buildings and the centerpiece Campus Pond landscape, “Central Park.”
Both Waugh and his students brought the concepts of ecological design illustrated in the Campus Pond plan into their own practices, applying it to the landscapes of major U.S. National Parks, the Missouri Botanical Garden in St. Louis, the Berkeley campus of the University of California, and other sites throughout the United States. The principles exemplified by the pond landscape which provide both visual contrast and increased diversity are still in use today.
While there have been intrusions into the pond landscape at the north and south ends, the central section retains its original character. In 2009, the University hired consultants to conduct an inventory of all structures on the campus fifty years in age or older. As part of the inventory the consultants identified and documented the Campus Pond landscape as a contributing feature. Now this historically significant landscape is under threat with the current proposed campus development scheme.
The Campus Pond landscape is a rare extant example of collaboration between landscape architects Frank Waugh and Warren H. Manning and an early example of the emergence of the ecological viewpoint as a primary concern in the field of landscape architecture. It has become a symbolic landscape for the campus community, and is an important legacy of the University’s pioneering work in campus planning, landscape architecture and ecological design.
Threat
In the summer of 2010, campus administrators unilaterally selected part of the historic Campus Pond landscape as the site for a new academic building. Administrators participating in the process failed to engage in the requisite state-mandated consultation with the Massachusetts Historical Commission at the project’s inception, belatedly filing with the Commission after investing in six months of preliminary design. In addition to the proposed development in the open space area of the historic landscape, a recently approved campus master plan calls for construction of one or more bridges to be built across the center of the Campus Pond.
Get Involved
A campus historic preservation group, Preserve UMass, has objected to the failure of the university to effect the timely involvement of the Massachusetts Historical Commission in a discussion of site alternatives. The locally-based National organization, the Library of American Landscape History has informed the Commission that the new building will cause a negative and irreversible impact on the historic pond landscape. The state Commission has asked the University and other interested parties to comment on the issue and on alternatives to the construction site. Send a letter or email supporting the need for an alternative location to: MHC# 50300, Massachusetts Historical Commission, 220 Morrissey Blvd. Boston, Mass. 02125 or mhc@sec.state.ma.us with MHC# 50300 included in the subject line.
References
Waugh, F.A. “Book of Landscape Gardening.” Reprint with new introduction by Linda Flint McClelland, 2007. University of Massachusetts Press, Amherst.
Photographs courtesy of Joseph Larson.
Comments (2)
April 10, 2012
When this comment was written the campus administration had not publicly revealed the actual extent of the project. Now that construction has started most of the area behind the student on the walkway has been enclosed with chain link fencing, bulldozed and graded to accommodate trailers and construction equipment. The author is in error with regard to the boundaries of the Historic Landscape, as delineated by the university's own consultant, Einhorn Yafee Prescott, and accepted by the Massachusetts Historical Commission. The site of the building, shown in the lower left corner of the middle photograph, and all of the rest of the lawn and plantings this side of the pond are part of the designated Historic Landscape. All will be entirely altered by this project.
As the project progresses the public will also see a coffer dam erected across the pond to allow the contractors to excavate the entire entire pond dam to install new utility lines. This was not revealed when the comment was written.
As for the proposed bridge across the pond it is included in the new Master Plan for the campus which has been the subject of many public forums held on the campus.
The location of the building has not been contested by Preserve UMass. What has been our concern is that the project did not comply with the state Historical Commission(MHC)regulations. The campus administration did not consult with MHC on the site selection until it was too late to consider alternatives that do not impact historic resources. The true extent of the project was not revealed to MHC or the public until the project was about at the 90% design stage.
October 3, 2011
This article is quite misleading. The proposed site for the new building is north of the pond and will not impinge on the pond landscape. The photograph of the pond with a student walking along a walkway implies that this is a photograph of the building site. In fact, the building site is across the walkway from the pond, in the location of the photographer, not of the photographed landscape. I can't comment on any plans about bridges over the pond, but if such plans exist they are not part of the plan for the new building. My department (Linguistics) will be housed in the new building, so I have a particular interest in making sure that the building is as attractive and well-sited as possible and improves the overall aesthetic of the campus. In fact, the department will be moving out of South College, one of the oldest buildings on campus. The fact that we have been in South College for more than thirty years makes us especially committed to ensuring that new building projects do not harm historic sites on campus. I am an enthusiastic supporter of efforts to ensure that South College does not get torn down. But the new academic classroom building does not threaten any historic landscapes and in fact will be a big improvement over the driveway and unused sunken yard beside the Student Union that are the actual site of the building. Please don't advocate for delays or additional costs for this building based on this article! The university is already financially-strapped, the new classroom space is badly needed, and all other potential sites have been considered and found inadequate.