Pioneer Information
Born Edward Trout Huntsman on a farm in Tintern, Ontario, he was orphaned as a boy and sent to live with his aunt and uncle at their Gowan Hall estate in Toronto. They later changed his family name to Huntsman-Trout after adopting him. Under his aunt’s horticultural tutelage, he managed the property’s conservatory, while also becoming fluent in several languages.
In 1903 he was sent to Florida, where his linguistic ability and plant expertise earned him a position with Reasoner Brothers’ Nursery. The family moved to southern California in 1907 where he completed high school and enrolled at the University of California, Berkeley. He graduated in 1913 with a BS in science, supplemented with architectural electives. That same year he entered Harvard University’s graduate program in landscape architecture. Preferring Beaux-Arts principles, he rejected the school’s Picturesque approach to landscape design, and after completing coursework, left without taking final exams.
Huntsman-Trout subsequently spent a year working for Fletcher Steele in Boston before joining A. D. Taylor’s Cleveland office in 1916 as head of its design department, laying out large country estates. After serving overseas in World War I, he rejoined Taylor’s firm, but in 1920 returned to California. He initially designed estates for the Beverly Hills Nursery before establishing, in 1922, an independent practice in Hollywood. His work included the Scripps College master plan (1937), Claremont, while largely focusing on residential landscape design—such as estates for Harvey Mudd and Jay Paley (1929 and 1935, respectively), Beverly Hills. During World War II he worked at Douglas Aircraft Company with architect H. Roy Kelley, and in 1945 returned to his practice. The following year he designed his family home and gardens in West Los Angeles, and in 1950 contributed to the design of the Los Angeles County Arboretum & Botanic Garden.
Huntsman-Trout passed away at the age of 84 in Los Angeles.
