Tito Patri Collection

Collection

Identifier: 2016--03

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Tito Patri Collection spans the years 1955-2015, and is comprised of files created by Patri. The collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records. The collection documents Patri’s career designing landscapes for residences, businesses, and cities.

The Personal Papers series only contains. Professional Papers biographical information, correspondence from colleagues and government officials responding to letters sent by Patri. Office records is comprised of a report on the Santa Cruz Mountains Regional Pilot Study, as well as photocopies of covers for other reports that Patri conducted throughout his career. The Project Records series contains photographs and drawings of Patri’s design projects.

Dates

1955-2015

Creator

DeMars, Vernon, 1908-2005 (Architect, Person)

Access Statement

Collection is open for research. Many of the Environmental Design Archives collections are stored offsite and advance notice is required for use.

Publication Rights

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from materials in the collection should be discussed with the Curator.

Biographical Note

Born in San Francisco on April 18th 1933 to Stella Nicole Patri, a bookbinder of rare books, and Giacomo Giuseppe Patri, a prominent San Francisco artist and teacher, Tito Patri graduated with a B.S. degree from the College of Agriculture (UC Berkeley) in 1955, and went on to work for Eckbo, Royston, and Williams (1954-1957), both in San Francisco with Robert Royston and Los Angeles with Garrett Eckbo. In 1957 he worked on a few projects in the firm Patri Patri Patri with his brothers, architects Remo and Piero. Tito taught landscape architecture and environmental planning at the College of Environmental Design at UC Berkeley (1961-1970), and has lectured at a dozen universities in the United States and internationally, including the Technical University of Munich where he was a guest lecturer in landscape planning (1974-1975) and the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia (2015).

He directed more than 30 environmental planning studies and master plans including: regional and local land use impact assessments, site development based on natural and visual resource protection, and environmental management guidelines. His planning projects include community and regional parks, as well as master plans for two major botanic gardens. His international interests led him to study culturally and ecologically responsive tourism potentials in the Republic of Slovakia, and in 1964 participation in a master planning team for two villages on the Island of Guam. He has also designed two estate gardens in Todi, Italy and a community garden in St. Petersburg, Russia.

Patri chaired the California State Mining and Geology Board (1979-1982) and was honored as a Fellow of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) in 1987. He has served on design review committees for the University of California and The Sea Ranch, and helped to write architectural and landscape design guidelines for Yosemite National Park from 2004 -2012. His article, “Shifting Paradigms,” written for the UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design Department of Landscape Architecture Centennial dealt with the vast changes within the field of Landscape Architecture between the 1950s to 1970s.

His professional experience includes landscape architecture, urban design, and environmental planning. After decades as a principal of landscape planning and design projects, his efforts now emphasize design based on integrating ecological principles and cultural factors.

Sources: Tito Patri Collection (2016-03), Environmental Design Archives Tito Patri, Landscapes for Living: Post War Years in Northern California, The Cultural Landscape Foundation (2015); accessed online: https://tclf.org/sites/default/files/microsites/pioneers/berkeley/patri.html S.F. Gate. Tuesday, January 17, 2006 http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/sfgate/obituary.aspx?pid=162951211#sthash.mn8s0pxg.dpuf

Extent

13 Linear Feet: (1 document box, 21 flat file folders, 1 tube)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Tito Patri Collection spans the years 1955-2015. The collection is organized into four series: Personal Papers, Professional Papers, Office Records, and Project Records. The collection includes a published sketchbook of his travel drawings, regional studies and reports, and documents Patri’s career designing landscapes for residences, businesses, and cities.