Huntsman-Trout, Edward

Biography of Edward Huntsman-Trout

Edward Huntsman-Trout, landscape architect, was born on July 31, 1889 in Ontario, Canada. Shortly after his mothers’ death (1892), he moved to the home of his great-aunt and uncle (the Trout’s) in Toronto. In 1908 the Trout’s moved to Los Angeles, where Edward finished high school, and later graduated from UC Berkeley with a degree in Botany in 1913. The following fall, he began his studies at Harvard’s School of Landscape Architecture, graduating in 1916.

Huntsman-Trout was a well-known landscape architect in Southern California between 1920 and the early 1970’s, and was a prominent designer of both residential estates and larger non-residential commissions. At Harvard, Huntsman-Trout studied a range of landscape traditions, including the principles of naturalistic English tradition to the more architectonic approach exemplified in Italian Renaissance and Baroque gardens as espoused by the Ecole des Beaux Arts. His early work was within the tradition of the great European estates that later gave way to an individual approach, which blended existing site conditions and the clients needs with his own preference for an uncontrived solution. Huntsman-Trout was a plantsmen first, using plants to enhance rather than determine his designs. He adapted earlier traditions to inspire his development of a particular site.

Educated at Harvard, Huntsman-Trout was later trained at prestigious eastern firms. His first job was in the office of Fletcher Steele, a landscape architect in Boston. While at Fletcher Steele, he supervised the construction of an estate in northern Maine. This made him an ideal choice for his later collaborations with Gordon Kaufman, a leading architect during this period.

Huntsman-Trout served in WWI – posted in France. After the war Huntsman-Trout returned to the United States, working briefly as the head of the design department at A.D. Taylor in Cleveland, where he supervised crews on a variety of projects. After receiving news that his great-aunt was ill, Huntsman-Trout returned to Los Angeles. Not long after his arrival in Los Angeles Huntsman-Trout accepted a position with the landscape architecture department at Beverly Hills Nursery. One of the gardens Huntsman-Trout designed for Beverly Hills Nursery was for the home of Roy and Hazel Pinkham (1922). In the course of working on the Pinkham project, Huntsman-Trout met his wife, future clients, and several architects with whom he would later work – including Gordon Kaufman. His association with the Pinkhams enabled him to acquire his own clients, and eventually leave Beverly Hills nursery.

Huntsman-Trout joined a handful of independent landscape artists practicing in Southern California. He based his site plans on Italian Renaissance and Baroque models, diminishing the distinction between structures and surroundings and using plantings to clearly define spaces. During the 1920’s Huntsman-Trout became interested in the romanticized Spanish Mission heritage that had transformed into a “California Style” landscape. These California Style projects include: Dios Dorados (1923), which he designed for movie director Thomas Ince; the Winnett Estate (1928-1929) overlooking Santa Monica Canyon; the Mudd Estate in Benedict Canyon; and the Jay Paley estate (1935), one of the last great estates.

During the 1920’s, Huntsman-Trout was also involved in non-residential landscape design. The most representative examples of his non-residential projects are the La Quinta Hotel (1926-1929) near Indio, Scripps College (1927) in Claremont, and Bullock’s Wilshire (1929). Scripps College, like the La Quinta Hotel, features one and two story Spanish Colonial Revival buildings placed on rectilinear, interlocking axes. The plan at Scripps was highly complex. The open spaces are enhanced by the addition of intimate courtyards and slight changes of level. Two major axes make up the scheme; the east-west axis of the auditorium; and the art building facing north toward the bowling green and Toll Hall. These axes together make the structural backbone of the plan. They give it strength and stability to contrast with the free form of trees and other plants. Garden grounds are frequent throughout. Shade trees are everywhere.

During World War II Huntsman-Trout’s career was briefly placed on hold. Although he was too old to join the military (53), he supported the war effort by working for the Douglas Corporation as a camoufleur. After the war Huntsman-Trout returned to his office, but instead of working on large estates, he was involved in designing smaller gardens within the new subdivisions that were sprouting up throughout Southern California. By 1965, Huntsman-Trout worked exclusively on residential projects, completing thirty private gardens in his final seven years of practice.

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