Pioneer Information
Born in Brunswick, Germany, von Waldburg immigrated to the U.S. in the early 20th century and developed an engineering and contracting practice in Flushing, New York and later in Huntington, Long Island. There his services included rustic masonry, stone pavement design, land grading, and road construction. He first became known as a landscape designer when he was hired to design the residential landscape for Laurel Lodge (Greenlawn). Von Waldburg’s design there showcased a harmonious integration of landscape and architecture and took advantage of natural viewing points to carefully orient the visitor’s experience of nature. From 1917-1920 he developed these ideas on a civic scale at Heckscher Park, where he created a naturalistic landscape augmented by stone bridges and cottages, and at Wincoma, August Heckscher’s own estate, as a summer colony on the East Neck of Huntington Bay. Von Waldburg went on to become a developer and land speculator, working on properties at Long Pond Farm in Lakeville, Pennsylvania, and Huntington Terrace in Melbourne, Florida. By 1922, he had created the Long Island Real Estate Trust in partnership with Martin F. Brockman, with a focus on civil and landscape engineering and accountancy. He eventually retired to Miami, where he died in Coral Gables.