Dumbarton
Oaks - A Pictorial Tour
(click on images)
the Pebble Garden),
there is an open air theater, a feature of many great seventeenth-
and eighteenth-century European gardens. The original property covered
53 acres. In 1940, the Blisses conveyed 16 acres of the property
and buildings to Harvard University to establish the Dumbarton
|
Page 4 of 4

|
|
Oaks Research
Library and Collection. At the same time, 27 acres were given to
the National Park Service, most of which form Dumbarton Oaks Park
(bordering the gardens on the north), and 10 acres were sold to
the Danish government for their embassy complex. The formal gardens
occupy 10 acres. The major work was completed between 1921 and 1941,
although changes, notably the addition of the Pebble Garden and
redesign of the Ellipse, continued to be made by Mrs. Bliss, working
with Ruth Havey. Endowments were established expressly for the purpose
of maintaining the gardens and for supporting a program of research
in landscape architecture. A full-time crew of a dozen gardeners
maintain the grounds.
|
|
|
|