Florence Yoch & Lucile Council

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Florence Yoch (1890–1972) and Lucile Council (1898–1964), were influential California landscape designers, practicing in the first half of the 20th century in Southern California. (Picture: Florence Yoch)

The works of Florence Yoch & Lucile Council are documented in the book "Landscaping the American dream: the gardens and film sets of Florence Yoch, 1890-1972".

Born into a privileged life in southern California, Florence Yoch studied at the University of California at Berkeley, at Cornell, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she completed a degree in landscape gardening. She began practicing in 1918 and over 53 years completed more than 250 projects. Her work encompassed a broad range of landscape types from grand estates to campuses, parks, even a botanical garden and five movie sets. Lucille Council became an apprentice to the firm in 1921 and as partners they lived and worked together until Council’s death in 1964.

Prestigious commissions included the residence of Mrs. Howard Huntington in Pasadena, California, Shoshone Falls National Park, and the Wilshire Country Club in Los Angeles. The first female movie director, Dorothy Arzner, introduced Yoch to such distinguished Hollywood personages as Jack Warner and David Selznick, for whom Yoch designed the Tara set for Gone with the Wind. Yoch and Council traveled to North Africa to research the set for The Garden of Allah. With the advent of World War II, their work, greatly reduced, became more naturalistic, centered on the land, largely in the Pasadena region. Their designs were noted for the juxtaposition of informal, wild plantings and formal geometry, as well as the theatrical and unexpected.


The David O. Selznick estate in Beverly Hills
Florence Yoch (1890-1972) and Lucile Council (1898-1964), were influential California landscape designers, practicing in the first half of the 20th century in Southern California. She began practicing in 1918 and over 53 years completed more than 250 projects. Lucille Council became an apprentice to the firm in 1921 and as partners they lived and worked together until Council's death in 1964. Their work range from grand estates to campuses, parks, even a botanical garden and five movie sets.

Council studied at the Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture in Massachusetts before beginning an apprenticeship with Florence Yoch in 1921. In 1925, she became Yoch’s partner, a role she would hold in business and in life, until her death in 1964.

Council and Yoch influenced garden design in Southern California, working on residential gardens and landscapes for Hollywood sets. Yoch worked primarily on the design side of the practice, while Council handled business affairs. In the 1920s and 30s they helped introduce to California the concept of European- influenced formal gardens blended with an American taste for simplicity. Their designs provided wealthy clients with a diverse array of garden experiences, mixing formal and informal geometry, local and exotic plantings, and incorporating status symbols such as high-end swimming pools. They educated their clients about many aspects of garden design, providing each with a book of Garden Maintenance Directions and teaching them about plants. After World War II their garden designs took on a more naturalistic and romantic character. Council and Yoch traveled to Europe frequently, where they collected photographs and sketches of the European gardens that inspired their work. Their projects include sets for the films Gone With the Wind, Romeo and Juliet and The Good Earth and high-end residential landscapes, including gardens for David Selznick and Jack Warner. Their work was featured in numerous publications, including California Art and Architecture, House Beautiful, and the book California Gardens.

Their landscape design works include:


- The estate of Howard Huntington, a Henry E. Huntington heir, in Pasadena.


- The equestrian estate of Will Keith Kellogg in the Pomona Valley, the present day campus of Cal Poly Pomona.


- 'Il Brolino' estate with topiary garden in Montecito.


- The Getty House gardens in Windsor Square, Los Angeles.


- Rancho Los Alamitos in Long Beach, California.


- The George Cukor gardens in the Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles - over several decades.


- The Jack Warner estate in Beverly Hills - present day David Geffen estate.


- Film sets for the exterior of 'Tara' in Gone with the Wind


- Don Quixote Courtyard.

Source: http://tclf.org/pioneer/florence-yoch & http://tclf.org/pioneer/lucille-council

Days of Love: Celebrating LGBT History One Story at a Time by Elisa Rolle
Paperback: 760 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform; 1 edition (July 1, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1500563323
-13: 978-1500563325
CreateSpace Store: https://www.createspace.com/4910282
Amazon (Paperback): http://www.amazon.com/dp/1500563323/?tag=elimyrevandra-20
Amazon (Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00MZG0VHY/?tag=elimyrevandra-20

Days of Love chronicles more than 700 LGBT couples throughout history, spanning 2000 years from Alexander the Great to the most recent winner of a Lambda Literary Award. Many of the contemporary couples share their stories on how they met and fell in love, as well as photos from when they married or of their families. Included are professional portraits by Robert Giard and Stathis Orphanos, paintings by John Singer Sargent and Giovanni Boldini, and photographs by Frances Benjamin Johnson, Arnold Genthe, and Carl Van Vechten among others. “It's wonderful. Laying it out chronologically is inspired, offering a solid GLBT history. I kept learning things. I love the decision to include couples broken by death. It makes clear how important love is, as well as showing what people have been through. The layout and photos look terrific.” Christopher Bram “I couldn’t resist clicking through every page. I never realized the scope of the book would cover centuries! I know that it will be hugely validating to young, newly-emerging LGBT kids and be reassured that they really can have a secure, respected place in the world as their futures unfold.” Howard Cruse “This international history-and-photo book, featuring 100s of detailed bios of some of the most forward-moving gay persons in history, is sure to be one of those bestsellers that gay folk will enjoy for years to come as reference and research that is filled with facts and fun.” Jack Fritscher