Pioneer Information
Cottrell attended The Masters School in Dobbs Ferry, New York, graduating in 1913. Around 1924, she began working with her sister, Helen Page Wodell, who had begun creating gardens for friends and neighbors in Short Hills, New Jersey, around 1924. In 1931 they began practicing as Wodell & Cottrell, Landscape and Garden Consultants. Cottrell is credited with popularizing herb gardens in the Great Lakes area, one of which she designed for Edith Farwell, who later became a well-known writer on the subject. Cottrell moved to Lake Forest, Illinois, with her husband in 1933. There she designed Lake Forest Village Square (1933-1936), as well as portions of the estates of such clients as William Allan Pinkerton Pullman, former president of the Chicago Horticultural Society, and Donald Welles. Cottrell and her husband then moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she designed gardens for A.J. Kieckhaefer, Mrs. Ludington Patton, and others. During this time, Cottrell continued to work with her sister and their firm in New Jersey. Cottrell retired in 1950 and moved to Stonington, Connecticut.
Cottrell’s style featured a blend of formal and natural, the predominance of either one being dependent on the terrain, the view, and the architecture of the house. While she was not a self-described advocate of the Prairie style, she preferred to use native plant materials whenever possible. Cottrell died in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 100.
