Pioneer Information
Born Marie Monica Harbeck in Seattle, Washington, Berger graduated in 1932 with a B.S. in landscape architecture from Oregon State University. Following graduation, she spent two years working with architect Gardner T. Dailey before joining the office of Thomas Church in San Francisco. While there, she completed the design of the L.D. Owen residence in Sausalito.
Harbeck exhibited at the Architectural League of New York prior to World War II and contributed her experiments with fabric design to the war effort by teaching camouflage techniques at Camp Belvoir, Virginia. While in Virginia, she met Dallas landscape architect Arthur Berger, with whom she partnered in business in 1945 and married the following year. The two went on to lecture extensively on landscape architecture and complete some 186 designs for private residences, college campuses, corporate headquarters, and resorts throughout the American South and in Jamaica, many of which embraced a Modernist approach. Berger died after suffering a stroke in 1963. At the time of her death, she endowed scholarships in landscape architecture and horticulture at the University of Oregon, Oregon State University, and Trinity University in San Antonio, continuing her lifelong dedication to the field.
