Pioneer Information
A native of Paris, Bignault developed an interest in landscape and plants at an early age. He studied horticultural science and landscape architecture at the University of Paris, and later engaged in postgraduate studies in Algiers and Madagascar. Bignault was sent to the U.S. by the French government to study the cultivation of Sea Island cotton in Beaufort, South Carolina in 1908. He settled in Savannah, where he practiced as a landscape architect, gardener, and artist. In addition to providing design services, Bignault also established the Bignault Gardens and Bignault Nurseries with his sons. Between 1910 and 1930 he designed the suburb of Chatham Crescent for millionaire Harvey Granger. Bignault also advised Granger and other civic leaders on the design of Victory Drive, a nearly twenty-mile palm-lined boulevard from Savannah to Savannah Beach constructed to commemorate World War I veterans. During the 1930s he worked as the landscape architect for the Savannah Park and Tree Commission. In this role Bignault produced drawings and planting plans for the redesign of most of Savannah’s 24 squares. He also designed private estates for vacationing northern industrialists and Georgia and South Carolina magnates. From 1935 to 1940 Bignault designed Killarney Gardens for Savannah banker William Murphy. It has since been renamed Marador Gardens, and the design has been simplified. In 1952 Bignault designed a period garden for the historic Savannah headquarters of the Red Cross. He also designed the plantings at Armstrong State College and the Fragrant Garden for the Blind in Forsyth Park for the Savannah Garden Club in the 1950s. Bignault actively practiced until his death at the age of 77.
