Nellie Beatrice Osborn Allen papers, 1916-1946.
Collection Number: 6338
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Cornell University Library
DESCRIPTIVE SUMMARY
Title:
Nellie Beatrice Osborn Allen papers, 1916-1946.
Repository:
Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections
Collection Number:
6338
Abstract:
Photographs, planting plans, drawings, and blueprints of gardens designed by Allen
while a student at the Lowthorpe School and in her professional practice. Also an
album of photographs of English gardens taken by Allen in 1938.
Creator:
Allen, Nellie Beatrice Osborn, 1869-1961.
Quanitities:
1.5 cubic feet.
6 mapcase folders.
Language:
Collection material in English
Born in Cameron, Missouri in 1869, little is known about Allen's early years, education,
and marriage to Sidney P. Allen. She attended the Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture
between 1916 and 1919 in Groton, Massachusetts, under the name Beatrice Osborn Allen.
In 1921 she visited gardens in England and Italy, including Gertrude Jekyll's Munstead
Wood. Between 1921 and the late 1940s Allen maintained a landscape architectural practice
based in New York City, designing residential gardens primarily in the New York and
New England area under the name Nellie B. Allen. Like many graduates of the Lowthorpe
program, Allen excelled in the design of Anglo-American-style perennial borders, such
as those at Dellwood, the John Henry Hammond estate in Mount Kisco. Other projects
include the Isabel Dodge Sloane estate on Long Island, Three Waters estate in Gloucester,
Massachusetts, Thornedale in Millbrook, New York, and the Anne Morgan estate in Mount
Kisco. She was also a consultant for the Bishop's Garden at the National Cathedral
in Washington, and designed a parterre garden in collaboration with Constance Boardman
for the 1939 New York World's Fair. Her gardens were occasionally featured in House
Beautiful, Landscape Architecture, and Country Life in America, but none of her gardens
survive. (Taken from The Cultural Landscape Foundation)
Photographs, planting plans, drawings, and blueprints of gardens designed by Allen
while a student at the Lowthorpe School and in her professional practice. Also an
album of photographs of English gardens taken by Allen in 1938.
INFORMATION FOR USERS
Nellie Beatrice Osborn Allen Papers, #6338. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections,
Cornell University Library.
Names:
Lowthorpe School
Subjects:
Gardens, English.
Garden borders.
Knot gardens.
Gardens.
Flower gardening.
Landscape architecture.
Women landscape architects.
Form and Genre Terms:
Architectural drawings
Photographs.
CONTAINER LIST
Container
|
Description
|
Date
|
|
Photographs
|
|||
Box 1 | Folder 1 |
Mrs. James B. Clemens, New York, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 2 |
Clifford McCall, East Hampton, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 3a-3j |
"Dellwood" - J.H. Hammond, Mt. Kisco, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 4a-4g |
Frank Bliss, New Rochelle, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 5 |
Edwin Cole, Westport Harbor, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 6a-6c |
Judge J. Harry Covington, Washington D.C.
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 7a-7b |
"Otahnagon" Anne Morgan and Anne Vanderbilt, Mt. Kisco, NY
|
|
Box 1 | Folder 8a-8f |
"Three Waters" Edith Notman, Gloucester, MA
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 1 |
Frank Bliss
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 2 |
"Brookmeade" - Sloane
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 3 |
Mrs. James B. Clemens
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 4 |
Judge J. Harry Covington
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 5 |
"Dellwood" - J.H. Hammond
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 6 |
Lowthorpe
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 7 |
Clifford McCall
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 8 |
"Otahnagon" Anne Morgan and Anne Vanderbilt
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 9 |
"Thorndale" N.B. Allen
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 10 |
"Three Waters" Edith Notman
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 11 |
Photograph of Nellie B. Allen
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 12 |
English Lavender and Yew
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 13 |
Buttress Yew Border at New Place
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 14 |
Testaceum Lilies and Gypsophila
|
|
Box 2 | Folder 15 |
Mrs. W.D. Miller
|
|
Box 2 |
Photograph Album of English Gardens
|
1938 | |
Plans
|
|||
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Lowthorpe School drawings (5)
|
1917-1919 | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Garden plan for Mrs. Charles A. Morss, Chestnut Hill, MA
|
April 1919 | |
Scope and Contents
Possibly an assignment from the Lowthrope School
|
|||
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Cedar Acres, Belmont MA
|
May 1919 | |
Scope and Contents
Road Construction Plan
|
|||
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Mrs. Jecyll's Blue, Gold, Green, Grey, and Orange Garden plans
|
Undated | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Herb Garden (with list of plants)
|
Undated | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Informal Knot Garden
|
Undated | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Sketch for the Garden of Mr. J.M. Tate Jr., Sewickley, PA
|
May 23, 1929 | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Leon M. Gecker, Crafts NY
|
November 23, 1945 | |
Scope and Contents
Planting Plan with topographical survey Planting Plan for Perennial and Annual Flower
Garden Terrace (blueprint and plan on tracing paper)
|
|||
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Border of Sweet-Leaved Geraniums
|
March 10, 1942 | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Plan entitled "In Springtime the Sweet-Leaved Geraniums is planted with Choice May-Flowering
Tulips"
|
Undated | |
Mapcase Folder 1 |
Plan entitled "Lupins Against a Strong Background"
|
||
Mapcase Folder 2 |
Wave Hill Rock Garden
|
||
Scope and Contents
Mylar tracings of original blueprints (c. 1934) at Wave Hill
|
|||
Mapcase Folder 3 |
Morgan-Vanderbilt Estate, Mt. Kisco, NY
|
1931 | |
Mapcase Folder 4 |
Morgan-Vanderbilt Estate, Mt. Kisco, NY
|
1931 | |
Mapcase Folder 5 |
Morgan-Vanderbilt Estate, Mt. Kisco, NY
|
1931 | |
Mapcase Folder 6 |
Lowthrorpe School Exercises
|
1917 |