Pioneer Information
Born in Baltimore, Maryland, Wiedorn received a B.S. in 1919 and M.L.A. in 1921 from Cornell University. He worked several jobs over the next three years, teaching landscape architecture at Kansas State College, and working briefly for the Olmsted Brothers firm in Massachusetts. In 1924 he became an associate for John Watson in St. Petersburg, Florida, then three years later, chief designer at Pitkin and Mott in Cleveland, Ohio. He spent five years with the firm before returning to Florida, where he went into private practice, specializing in city planning and landscape architecture. Projects varied widely, and included golf courses, subdivisions, and campus, institutional, park and garden design. While still in Florida, he consulted on the design for New Orleans’ City Park and golf course. Shortly thereafter he moved the practice to New Orleans, where he often collaborated with architect Richard Koch. Wiedorn continued his involvement in the design of City Park, a working relationship that would span a lifetime and included the classical design for the New Orleans Botanical Garden, begun in the 1930s. Concurrent with his private practice, he taught at the New Orleans Art School, beginning in 1935. His projects include work at Tulane University, Dillard University, Audubon Park, and St. Anthony’s Garden at St. Louis Cathedral, all in New Orleans.
