Pioneer Information
Born in Kingston, New York, Schryver attended the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture in Groton, Massachusetts, during summers before completing high school and studied general art for one year at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute. She enrolled full-time at Lowthorpe in 1920 while working part-time in the Boston offices of landscape architects Harold Blossom, Elizabeth Pattee, and Elizabeth Strang. In summer 1922 Schryver worked in the Cornish, New Hampshire, office of Ellen Shipman as part of her scholarship. Upon her graduation from Lowthorpe in 1923, she spent the next five years in Shipman’s New York City office, where she assisted with the design of several significant estate gardens. While on a European study tour sponsored by the Lowthorpe and Cambridge schools in 1927, Schryver met Elizabeth Lord, another Lowthorpe graduate. They moved to Salem in 1928, forming a partnership the following year. They worked in Salem until their retirement in 1970. Their firm focused on garden design for private residences, including the Deepwood Estate and their own home, Gaiety Hollow, in Salem. In addition to residential projects, they also took on projects at Reed College in Portland (1939), the University of Puget Sound in Tacoma, and various Salem parks. While Schryver focused on design and construction, Lord specialized in plant composition. During their 40 years of collaboration, they designed over 250 projects throughout the Northwest, some being institutional, civic, and residential. They wrote often, lectured frequently throughout the region, and contributed to radio broadcasts.
During and after World War II, Schryver taught classes at Oregon State University. Together Lord and Schryver served on the Oregon Roadside Council and were members of numerous gardening clubs. Schryver passed away in Salem at the age of 83.
