Episode 115: Florence Yoch
Florence Theresa Yoch was born on July 15, 1890 in Laguna Beach, California. She grew up in Santa Ana, California and the family would go back and forth between Santa Ana and Laguna Beach where they owned the Laguna Hotel. Florence fell in love with landscapes and decided to study landscape architecture at UC Berkeley in 1910. In 1912, she transferred to Cornell’s College of Agriculture and then transferred again to University of Illinois where she graduated in 1915 with a Bachelors of Science in Landscape Gardening. After graduating she moved back to Southern California and opened her own firm working on projects in Pasadena and Orange County. Florence worked for many big names in the area such as Arabella Huntington. During WWI, Florence was part of the Women’s Land Army of America. In 1921, she hired Lucile Council to join her firm. Lucile was born in 1898 in Illinois and got her masters from the Cambridge School of Domestic and Landscape Architecture in Massachusetts. Florence and Lucile fell in love and opened a joint firm called Yoch & Council. Florence was the lead designer and Lucile oversaw the office, construction and sourced plants. Most of their work was in Pasadena, San Marino, Beverly Hills, and Montecito. As time went on they started working for the Hollywood Elite such as Irene Mayer, David O. Selznick, and George Cukor. Through these connections they were hired to design the sets of several films such as The Garden of Allah, Romeo & Juliet, and Gone with the Wind. During WWII their work load dwindled, but they were able to still find small projects. In the 50s, they continued to work on mostly residential projects but had a few bigger public projects such as gardens at the Althenaum at Cal Tech in Pasadena, the Women’s Athletic Club in Los Angeles, and Shoshone Falls Park in Twin Falls, Idaho. In 1960, Florence and Lucile moved up to Monterey, California and moved their business. Lucile passed away in 1964 and Florence continued to work on small projects until her death on January 21, 1972.
Caryatid: Wambui Ippolito
Wambui is a Kenyan landscape designer. She grew up living all over the world, in Kenya, Costa Rica, and various places in Europe because her mom was a diplomat. She loved the landscape when they were back at their farm in Kenya’s Rift Valley. She said ‘I was surrounded by what felt like a never-ending landscape: the sky was so wide, the stars so abundant, and animals roamed freely. I felt so connected there.’ After her daughter was born, she left her consultancy job and reignited her love of landscape. She then attended and graduated from the New York Botanical Garden’s School of Professional Horticulture. After that, she had the opportunity to work on the estates of Martha Stewart and David Letterman. Her childhood traveling the world influences her designs and her planting choices. She says ‘I try to tap into the zeitgeist of a place. I observe the lushness of plants, listen to the music, see how people talk, interact, and maneuver through the natural world. Landscape is not just a thing to be looked at, but a place to live.’
References
Jewell, Jennifer. “FOR THE LOVE OF PLANTS, With HORTICULTURIST WAMBUI IPPOLITO.” Cultivating Place, 17 Sept. 2020, www.cultivatingplace.com/post/for-the-love-of-plants-with-horticulturist-wambui-ippolito.
Meares, Hadley. “Gone With the Wind: Florence Yoch Recreated the South on RKO’s Backlot.” Curbed LA, 1 Apr. 2019, la.curbed.com/2019/4/1/18281056/florence-yoch-gone-with-the-wind.
Ozawa, Melissa. “12 Questions With Garden Designer Wambui Ippolito.” Gardenista, 11 Nov. 2022, www.gardenista.com/posts/wambui-ippolito.
Smaus, Robert. “GARDENS : California Essence : Seventy Years Ago, Florence Yoch Brought Us European Landscape Design - Los Angeles Times.” Los Angeles Times, 20 Aug. 1989, www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-08-20-tm-1000-story.html.
Tyson, Sue. “Florence Yoch Papers: Finding Aid.” Online Archive of California, oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8cn792r/entire_text.
Wicks, Lauren. “11 Revolutionary Female Landscape Designers and Architects Everyone Should Know.” Veranda, 7 Mar. 2023, www.veranda.com/outdoor-garden/g35681384/female-landscape-designers-to-know.
Wikipedia contributors. “Florence Yoch.” Wikipedia, 15 Aug. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Yoch.
---. “Florence Yoch and Lucile Council.” Wikipedia, 24 Sept. 2024, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Yoch_and_Lucile_Council.
Zimmer, William. “ART; Landscape Designer To the Celebrated In Sunny California.” The New York Times, 6 Dec. 1998, www.nytimes.com/1998/12/06/nyregion/art-landscape-designer-to-the-celebrated-in-sunny-california.html.
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