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Harriet Pattison Oral History

Oral History on YouTube: Ideal for mobile devices

The life, career, and design philosophy of Philadelphia-based landscape architect Harriet Pattison is the subject of the thirteenth oral history in the award-winning Pioneers of American Landscape Design® Oral History Project series.

In a career spanning more than 50 years, Pattison worked with leading 20th-century practitioners, including noted Modernist architect Louis Kahn and landscape architect George Patton, with whom she collaborated on the design for the iconic Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth, Texas. Pattison also worked on Kahn’s posthumously realized commission, the Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park on Roosevelt Island, New York, which opened in 2012. Her oeuvre ranges from residential gardens and public housing, to the 150-acre Hershey Company campus. Pattison is the third woman documented by the series. Her work in post-World War II American cities, in a profession traditionally dominated by men, is an indispensable and inspiring chapter in the history of landscape architecture.


Oral History Framework

Video clips are divided into three categories: BIOGRAPHY, DESIGN, and PROJECTS

Each clip is between 1 and 4 minutes long.

Interview: Harriet Pattison was interviewed by Charles A. Birnbaum in the Architectural Archives of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia in June 2015.

Harriet Pattison Oral History Transcript

 

Reflections: Harriet Pattison has been a practitioner in the United States for more than fifty years. The Cultural Landscape Foundation contacted her colleagues and professional associates to share their stories and memories.

Harriet Pattison Reflections

 

  YouTube Clip Listing by Category

 

  Production Credits and Acknowledgments