Geraldine Knight Scott (1904-1989)

Geraldine Knight Scott was born in Wallace, Idaho in1904. In 1922 she enrolled in UC Berkeley’s College of Agriculture, where she received her degree in Landscape Architecture in 1926. Seeking additional instruction in art and design, Miss Knight continued her formal education in Art and Architecture at Cornell University from 1926-1928. Upon graduation, Scott worked in the office of A.E. Hanson in Southern California from until1930. During these two years she worked on various residential estates and gardens, including the Harold Lloyd estate in Beverly Hills.

A firm advocate of increasing one’s self-knowledge and appreciation of different cultures and regionalism through travel, Scott spent 22 months in Europe beginning in 1930. She surveyed historic Italian villas through the Academia della Arts in Rome and explored the famous gardens of France and Spain. She also attended the Sorbonne in Paris where she pursued her interest in housing, studying projects in Germany and Austria.

Returning to California in 1933, Scott joined the office of Helen Van Pelt in Marin County. After partnering in 1935, Scott stayed for several years, working on the Pacific Area in the Pacific House at the Golden Gate International Exposition in 1939. In that same year, Scott married Mellier Scott, a Los Angeles journalist who would later become a well-known writer interested in city and regional planning issues. With their shared interest in housing and planning, they traveled to Europe, visiting projects in England, France, Switzerland, Italy, Hungary, Russia, Belgium, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Holland. They attended the 18th Congress of the International Federation for Housing and Town Planning in Stockholm in July of 1939, but were forced to end their travels when war broke out in September of that year.

The couple returned to Los Angeles where Scott worked as the director of the Citizens Housing Council and later became the first woman member of the Los Angeles Regional Planning Commission, working on recreation planning and war housing. In 1941 she and Mel moved to Berkeley where she participated in the San Francisco Telesis group and the San Francisco Housing and Planning Commission. Combined with her inherent interest in housing, the involvement with Telesis persuaded Scott to continue working in the public sector.

In 1947 Scott moved to Palo Alto, where she worked with landscape architect Katherine Imlay. The following year she moved to Berkeley and began her private practice, which she continued until 1968. She focused her efforts on housing, schools, private gardens and professional office parks. Notable projects include the Oakland Museum (1963), Daphne Funeral Service (1953) and a long-range plan for the Blake Estate (1968). Scott also lectured and taught landscape architecture at the University of California from 1956-1968.

In 1952, Scott was hired by H. Leland Vaughan as a part-time lecturer in the University of California Landscape Architecture Program. Initially she taught courses in site planning often jointly with Vaughan or Robert Royston, but by 1960 took responsibility for two courses in plants and design.

In addition to her private practice and teaching engagements, Scott actively participated in civic commissions and boards in the Bay Area. She served as a member of the Berkeley Art Commission for seven years, was a founding member of the California Horticultural Society in 1935, was a member and fellow of the ASLA, was awarded a distinguished membership to the Sigma Lambda Alpha Honor Society in 1981, and participated in the ASLA Women in Landscape Architecture taskforce from 1974 to 1975. Scott also established a Travelling Fellowship Program for landscape architecture students at UC Berkeley and established an Endowment for Research into the History of Landscape Architecture, which includes support for maintaining and preserving the Documents Collection of the College of Environmental Design.

Sources: Laurie, Michael. “75 Years of Landscape Architecture at Berkeley, Part II: Recent Years.” Berkeley: Department of Landscape Architecture, University of California, Appendix 1.

Scott, Geraldine Knight. “Geraldine Knight Scott, Landscape Architect.” Geraldine Knight Scott Collection, (2000-03), Environmental Design Archives, University of California, Berkeley.