Pioneer Information
Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Buettner received his degree in landscape architecture from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1967. Upon graduating, he worked for landscape architect John Simonds in Pittsburgh, followed by ten years at a land planning firm and an engineer office in Milwaukee, prior to opening his own practice. With his firm of six landscape architects, Buettner designed numerous public gardens, parks, commercial sites, residential works, and historic master plans throughout Wisconsin and the Midwest, including the Wisconsin Governor’s Residence and the Allen Centennial Garden at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, WI; the Paine Art Center and Gardens in Oshkosh, WI; the Villa Terrace Garden rehabilitation in Milwaukee, WI; the International Friendship Garden in Michigan City, IN; and the Bickelhaupt Arboretum in Clinton, IA.
Buettner utilized a deep knowledge of the region's landscape history and its native plant materials in his work. In addition to his hundreds of public commissions, he was involved in several master plans for historic houses in Wisconsin’s Mineral Point Historic District. Buettner served as President of the Wisconsin Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1979, and Chapter Trustee from 1981 to 1986. He was awarded Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1995.
