Haldeman, Anne Bruce (1903-1993) Architectural drawings, 1933-1947
Held by The Filson Historical Society
Creator: Haldeman, Anne Bruce, 1903-1993
Title: Architectural drawings, 1933-1947
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for these papers, contact the Collections Department.
Size of Collection: 7 rolls (3 cubic feet)
Location Number: Mss. AR H159a
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of early works by Anne Bruce Haldeman and Louise Leland. Haldeman had a life-long career in landscape design working both independently as well as in partnership with Louise Leland from 1934-1956 in the firm Haldeman & Leland.
Rolls 1-2 are thesis projects designed by Haldeman and Leland in 1933. Both women created projects prior to their graduation from the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture. Haldeman’s “Construction Details for a Small Country Place” include planting plans and construction plans for a garden house, walls and gateway. Leland designed “A House on a Downhill Lot,” a large, Tudor style residence to be situated on Leland family land west of Springfield, Illinois.
Rolls 3-4 relate to the design of “Puye,” the private residence of Haldeman and Leland in Glenview, Kentucky.
Rolls 5-7 are design projects for Mr. & Mrs. George Norton on Wolf Pen Branch Rd., and planting plans for Liberty Hall in Frankfort, Ky.
Related Collections:
Haldeman, Anne Bruce, 1903-1993. Papers, ca. 1928-1993. 12 cu. ft. Mss. A H159c
Haldeman, Anne Bruce, 1903-1993. Landscape design records, 1929-1986. 3.5 cu. ft. Mss. AR H159
Haldeman, Anne Bruce, 1903-1993. Papers, ca. 1960. 8 items. Mss. C H
Anne Bruce Haldeman working library – 118 titles, 5 cu. ft. (click here for listing) (click to access PDF)
Haldeman family. Papers, 1843-1985. 28 boxes. Mss. A H159
Historical/Biographical Note
Anne Bruce Haldeman was born in Louisville, Kentucky in 1903 to the Haldeman family, prominent newspaper publishers. Haldeman lived to be 90 years old and left a legacy as one of the earliest and most pre-eminent female landscape architects in Kentucky. After graduating from Bennett College in New York State, she noted that her career in landscape architecture started ‘accidentally’ while her parents were designing a country home in Glenview, KY. She eventually enrolled in the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, which is now part of Harvard University. Graduating in 1933, Haldeman, along with her classmate and partner Louise Leland (1902-1956), returned to Louisville in 1934 and founded the landscape architectural firm of Haldeman & Leland. The office was located in the Francis Building at 606 S. 4th Street. Haldeman and Leland resided in Glenview, KY near the Haldeman family property. Following the early death of Leland in 1956, the firm dissolved. Haldeman continued to work in landscape design for the remainder of her life.
While Anne Bruce Haldeman designed numerous gardens and landscapes throughout the region, she is best remembered for her role in the historically-informed gardens at My Old Kentucky Home State Park, in Bardstown, KY, Farmington Historic Plantation, in Louisville, KY, and as a consultant for Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill in Mercer Co., KY. Haldeman was a member of the group who spearheaded the movement to rescue the historically significant home and gardens of Farmington, the plantation originally built from 1815-1816 by John and Lucy Fry Speed. She helped to found the Historic Homes Foundation Inc., a local organization created to protect the integrity of historic homes. Throughout the late 1960s and 70s, Haldeman researched the Speed family, the home, as well as the time period, to create as historically accurate gardens as possible. In 1973 Haldeman was awarded the Mrs. Oakleigh Thorne Medal for outstanding achievement in Garden Design from the Garden Club of America. She was also one of the first women to join the American Society of Landscape Architects. Anne Bruce Haldeman died in 1993.
Louise Leland (1902-1956) was Kentucky’s first registered female architect. On her father’s side, Leland’s ancestors had designed some of the country’s earliest fine hotels. Leland also studied at the Cambridge School of Architecture and Landscape Architecture, joining her classmate Haldeman in Louisville soon after her 1933 graduation. In 1934, the pair founded the landscape architecture firm Haldeman & Leland, with the intention of dividing their labor. Haldeman would handle the landscaping, while Leland would manage any building work that developed in connection with their projects. [1] In that same year, Leland first sat for the architecture board exams; she successfully passed in 1938, becoming Kentucky’s first registered female architect—a distinction she held alone until 1975. Leland was particularly interested in domestic architecture, fitting the house to its site and to the client’s way of life. Louise Leland died in 1956.
Notes:
[1] Regarding Haldeman & Leland planned division of labor see: Ossian P. Ward to C. Julian Oberwarth, August 27, 1934. Leland, Louise historical file, FHS.
Folder List
Box 1
Roll 1: Construction details for a Small Country Place, thesis by Anne Bruce Haldeman for the Cambridge School, February 1933
Roll 2: A House on a Downhill Lot, thesis by Louise Leland for the Cambridge School, 1933
Roll 3: Residence for Haldeman/Leland, “Puye”, 1940
Roll 4: Residence for Haldeman/Leland, “Puye”, 1940
Roll 5: Residence for George W. Norton, Esq., near Wolf Pen Branch Rd., 1936
Roll 6: Studio for Mrs. George Norton, Jr., Wolf Pen Branch Rd., 1939?
Roll 7: Planting plans for Liberty Hall, August 1947
Subject Headings
Architecture, Domestic – Kentucky.
Garden structures.
Gardens – Designs and plans.
Haldeman & Leland (Louisville, Ky.)
Landscape architecture – Kentucky.
Lesbian businesswomen – Kentucky.
Leland, Louise, 1902-1956.
Planting design.
Women landscape architects – Kentucky.
Women-owned landscape architectural firms – Kentucky.