Thematic Features
Marvels of Modernism (2008)
Spotlighting our diverse and irreplaceable postwar garden
and landscape heritage.
View Online | Press | Events
Heroes of Horticulture (2007)
Highlighting significant horticultural features that have stood steadfast in the face of almost insurmountable natural and cultural odds; having born witness to the heritage of our nation.
View Online | Updates | Press
Spotlight on the Garden (2006)
Many gardens, like historic buildings, are national treasures on our cultural endangered species list. Those being created by today’s visionaries could be destroyed within a generation.
Working Landscapes (2004)
Placing a spotlight on seven at-risk historic rural landscapes where people worked the land: farms and ranches, shipyards and railroad yards.
Designed Landscapes (2002)
Focusing on masterworks of landscape architecture designed in the past 250 years that are at-risk.
FEATURES: Properties Currently At-Risk
Posted: July 2009
Sharp Park Golf Course, Pacifica, CA
Designed by the legendary golf course architect Dr. Alister MacKenzie, Sharp Park Golf Course faces potential closure due to pressure from environmental activists and San Francisco city officials.
Posted: June 2009
Update: Parkmerced, San Francisco, CA
The owners have released their plan to remove 170 two-story houses from the historic Thomas Church/Robert Royston master planned development and clear and re-grade nearly 116 acres of the unique Post War development.
Posted: May 2009
Michael Reese Hospital, Chicago, IL
The City of Chicago is moving forward with plans to demolish the Walter Gropius, Lester Collins, Hideo Sasaki Design designed-complex as part of its bid for the 2016 Summer Olympics.
Posted: May 2009
Update: Miller House and Garden, Columbus, OH
This highly regarded example of a mid-century Modernist residence, designed by Eero Saarinen and Dan Kiley, has been acquired by the Indianapolis Museum of Art with the intent to open it as a historic site.
Posted: May 2009
University of Washington Nuclear Reactor Building
Constructed as the “crown jewel” of the UW Engineering Department, the Nuclear Reactor Building and plaza was the result of an interdisciplinary design team, The Architect Artist Group, but is now shuttered.
Posted: April 2009
Update: Charlottesville Downtown Mall, VA
Lawrence Halprin’s iconic pedestrian mall sees a second life as major project work addresses long-deferred maintenance.
Posted: February 2009
John Handley High School Winchester, VA
The historic, Olmsted-designed campus landscape is currently threatened by plans to install an eight-lane athletic track and new artificial athletic field.
Posted: January 2009
Designed by Tony Smith, Theodore van Fossen, and Laurence Cuneo, it stands as an early example of Organic-Modernist architecture. Unfortunately, the site is imminently threatened by sale and likely redevelopment.
Posted: December 2008
Nine Mile Canyon, Central Utah
Known as “the world’s longest art gallery” for its astonishing collection of petroglyphs.. The site’s future is in jeopardy as discussions over how to extract natural gas reserves without damaging the cultural legacy are breaking down.
Posted: October 2008
Jefferson National Expansion Memorial, St. Louis, MO
Designed by two of the 20th-century’s most influential designers: architect Eero Saarinen and landscape architect Dan Kiley, this National Historic Landmark designated landscape is now threatened by development.
Posted: September 2008
The Cadbury Factory, Moreton, UK
Designed by Sir Geoffrey Jellicoe in 1952, it was developed during the UK’s post-war reconstruction era. Today it faces an uncertain future.
Posted: July 2008
Charlottesville Downtown Mall, Virginia
Designed by Lawrence Halprin & Associates in the mid 1970s, it is one of the most successful pedestrian malls of its era in the United States. City officials seek “cosmetic upgrades” that threaten the site’s character-defining features.
Posted: July 2008
Fulton Mall, Fresno, California
Designed by Garrett Eckbo (completed 1964), the Mall was originally the centerpiece of an effort to maintain downtown Fresno as the region’s retail center. Now, it's threatened as the city seeks to change the face of downtown.
Posted: June 2008
H. Nehrling’s Tropical Garden and Arboretum, Naples, Florida
Henry Nehrling's legendary tropical botanical garden is threatened by the expanding Naples Zoo. A recently approved master plan calls for upgrades and expansion, but does little to protect Nehrling's original gardens.
Posted: May 2008
Cyclorama Center, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania
In the late 1950s, Richard Neutra designed and built the visitor’s center for Gettysburg National Military Park as a monument commemorating the battle. The building has since been replaced and now stands vacant.
Posted: April 2008
Estates Drive Reservoir, Oakland, California
The free-flowing Modernist plan of the reservoir was designed by Robert Royston, one of the most influential landscape architects of the 20th century.
Posted: April 2008
Landslide Saved: Gerdemann Garden
The garden is a celebrated regional treasure of biological diversity with exotic plants, native species, and hybrids developed by Dr. Gerdemann.
Posted: January 2008
Park Central Square, Springfield, Missouri
In response to proposed major changes, longtime Springfield, Missouri resident, Ruth Kelley ignites discourse for forgotten Halprin-designed park.
Posted: November 2007
Buckland, VA: Preserving a Working Landscape
In 2004, the town and farm of Buckland was selected as one of TCLF’s Landslide resources. Read what has been done since then to preserve the working landscape.
Posted: September 2007
This Post-War housing complex, one of the largest west of the Mississippi, is at risk as San Francisco State University expands.
Posted: August 2007
Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
The Bell Labs complex designed by Eero Saarinen, Kevin Roche and Sasaki, Walker and Associates in Holmdel, New Jersey, is at risk as developers plan for the site's future.
Posted: June 2007
Pinehurst’s Historic Landscape
North Carolina’s Pinehurst National Historic Landmark District, including the Frederick Law Olmsted, Sr. and Warren H. Manning landscape, are being threatened by a proposed roundabout.
Posted: January 2007
Planned freeway construction is once again threatening one of Seattle's most culturally important landscapes. The Arboretum that is not only a civic treasure, but an astounding horticultural resource for the entire region.
Posted: November 2006
Rockefeller Park & Cleveland Cultural Gardens
Rockefeller Park and its landmark Cleveland Cultural Gardens are threatened by a proposed stream restoration project of Doan Brook, an urban stream that runs along the entire length of the park.
Posted: August 2006
Dan Kiley Landscape - Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception
The site is threatened by a proposed Downtown Transportation Center. The hope is that by raising awareness of the significance of this project, the City will create a design that is minimally intrusive on Kiley’s landscape.
Posted: December 2005
Building in the Aftermath: Rebuilding the Big Easy-Not so Easy
A paper by Suzanne Turner on the perspective that landscape architecture brings to the challenge of rebuilding New Orleans and its regional landscape following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina.
Posted: July 2005
The mill is the subject of a fierce preservation fight between concerned citizens, Zirkle family members and the Frontier Culture Museum, a Virginia State Agency.
Call for Nominations!
Landslide 2009: Shapers of the
American Landscape
Landscapes at Risk
The goal of TCLF’s Landslide program is to draw immediate attention to endangered (or threatened) nationally significant cultural landscapes. In establishing this program, TCLF aims to serve as a catalyst for an informed discourse in the hopes of encouraging responsible community involvement and wise stewardship decisions. The posted web features are written by outside individuals and do not necessarily represent the opinions of TCLF.
Landslide in Action!
Landslide is designed to educate and thereby rally support at the local, state, and national levels by calling attention to endangered landscapes and cultural landscape resources that are in and near your own community.
Landslide is an interactive, online resource highlighting threats to cultural landscapes and directing the public to those groups working to protect them. Landslide provides a history of each threatened site; presents its social, cultural, and artistic significance; gives a biography of the landscape architect or designer; and details the current threat. Moreover, Landslide connects the public to the preservation effort by providing links to the groups that are working to safeguard each site for the benefit of today and for future generations.
Saved and Lost !
Thanks to public advocacy and education many of these endangered landscapes have been preserved for future generations. Unfortunately, for some, it was too late.