Jens Jensen (Landscape Architect) Guide, Meaning , Facts, Information and Description
Jens Jensen was born in the small town of Slesvig, Denmark on September 13, 1860 (Grese 1992 p.2) to a wealthy farmer. For the first nineteen years of his life he lived on his family’s ancestral farm, which helped him cultivate his love and knowledge for the untouched natural environment. Not only did he walk through the near lands of his home, but his father also taught him much about its individual history throughout Europe’s wars and peace. His father was a major benefactor to his love for the outdoors because he fostered a want for the horticultural and ecological sides of his home. His family also kept to the outdoors, playing and working by day, and telling tales and stories by the camp fire at night.When he was four years old, in 1864(Grese 1992 p.3), Jens watched Germany invaded parts of Denmark, including his town, and his farm buildings were burned to the ground. This invasion, which annexed the land into Prussia, left a deep influence on how Jens viewed the world of man, one of imperialistic bourgeoisie, and our influence on nature. This, in turn, became a major influence on the way he would design in the years to come. As was the custom of the land and time, Jens finished much of his schooling at thirteen; helping the family tend the farm for several years before he went off to high school was a social norm. At nineteen he went off to a folk high school. A folk high school was one which wealthier or well to do farm children would move onto, to gain knowledge in such things a farmer really didn’t need to survive, but instead to increase his horizons. Again, this school helped bring Jen down to earth and closer to his future profession by way of implementation. The school was outdoor oriented, holding classes outside, having plays and singing nights (Grese 1992); it just sounded like a merry time in the woods woven with classes put forth in nature. Afterwards he attended Tune Agricultural School, fuelling the already hungry intellect that he was cultivating to see that his farming days were prosperous. He studied such things as botany, chemistry, horticulture, soil science. The school stressed the knowledge of ones region and the fact that each was unique in its own way, a concept which Jens turned into his own personal philosophy. Directly after schooling he was entered into mandatory duty in the Prussian Army; a time which he loathed. But, on the positive side, it did expose him to the landscape works of English and French character, which he did not look well upon. Jens was not impressed with the trimming of nature, later saying, “Men with little intellect and plenty of money who, for the sake of popularity, will turn their gardens into museums of freaks where even the stalwart moonshiner would hesitate to pass through at the midnight hour.” (Grese 1992 p. 181) Here he was expressing his views on floral and topiary gardens. Directly afterwards he moved to the United States of America, something that was not looked well upon as he was the oldest son and was supposed to take rights to the ancestral land of his families. But, Jens had no patience for farming. He did not go to America for new beginnings or for prosperity, like many of his fellow immigrants, but instead went because his family did not approve of his new wife, who was not in the same social class. (Grese 1992).
In the United States of America Jens moved around a bit until he settled in Chicago, where he would call home for the rest of life. He procured a job as a Street Sweeper in a nearby park, but that was only a seasonal job, so he got a job at a nursery, where he kept his horticultural skills in check (Grese 1992). He began taking his family on weekend trips to the Mid Western countryside, another large factor presented in his later landscaping. Then, out of the blue, from which nobody truly knows how, Jens began designing.
At the time which Jens began his landscaping career in Chicago, in or around the 1890’s, the city was, like a lot of the large cities in the United States of America, reforming on a grandiose scale because of new technologies such as the automobile, raised trains, and also large amounts of population to account for. This could not have been a better time for him because of the values that he held, being a conservationalist and keen ecologist for his time. There was not any common knowledge of these things in the public works of the time, so it didn’t get implemented or thought about. Jens changed this. During his career he designed or played a part in designing over 350 residences in the great lakes area, and over 100 parks, golf courses, resorts, subdivisions, hospitals, schools, and businesses (Grese 1992 p. 199). Some of his more famous, or still living landscapes are the Henry Ford Estate in Dearborn, Lincoln Memorial Garden in Springfield, Douglas Park in Chicago, and Columbus Park in Chicago (Grese 1992 p.199). He had a particular style which could be said to be reminiscent of Olmstead, but his mutation of the great landscape architects of the late nineteen century became widely known as Prairie Style Landscaping, mostly because of his use of native species and natural forms of the areas of the Mid West. Native gardens had not ever become as popular as they did when Jens began implementing it. He had many signature design implementations that are still easily recognizable today in parks around the continent.
First, was his use of space. Being called the "prairie style" (Grese 1992 p.44), Jens’ designs normally consisted of an open space and pathways, which allowed one to stay in the shade while viewing the light. Not only did he use native plants, but also materials too. Most of his water features use slabs of limestone stacked up to recreate the natural river systems of the Mid West. Much of his designing also focused around views from certain places where he would leave openings in the dense under stories he was known for planting. This would enhance the mystery of the spaces. In some places you are able to look across long spaces to three different other openings, which later on in the hike you will find yourself stumbling upon. A good example of this is the Henry Ford Estate. Jens never created paths going in straight lines to their destinations. Like his views of conservative flora dominating gardens of the French and English, Jens didn’t enjoy inorganic lines that connected places like they were nodes. In this estate, the driver is lead through a gate where large prairie lay in front of them, and the residence is seen far in the distance. Instead of going straight to the house, the driver is lead through a densely wooded area and kept in mystery with bends in the road, which he planted in its inside large trees to give a feeling of a natural reasoning for the turn. Suddenly, the driver is propelled out of the forest and in the open space where the residence is in front of them. This idea of wandering was one which Jens put forth in almost all of his designs, with the exception of formal rose gardens and vegetable gardens. Another prominent aspect of Jens’ design style is the council rocks and rings. These were set up to mimic the once prominent Native Americans meeting areas and discussion areas, where there was a democratic authority of equality of persons. At the council rocks there were also performance areas for day and night, the only light source being the moon or a small campfire. The audience was normally situated sitting west so that the plays and events could start at dusk with the sunset as a backdrop (Grese 1992).
Much of what Jens Jensen did was based on remembrance of the past on the land where his designs stood, and also for respect for the beauty which is given to each individual area from the bosom of nature. Although many people did not understand this fact, seeing that only 10 percent of works he was able to see in full maturity due to misunderstanding of native gardens or the ecological interactions of succession and diversity. Today his gardens are being restored due to resurrections of his plans. Jens Jensen was one of the most influential bridges into native gardens popularity and also into planning the garden to not only have native species, but native species in their respective places as they would be in the places without human integration or involvement. He taught us that beauty does not have to come from a Tulip from Holland or a Maple from Japan; it can come from the wild reaches of our backyards or state parks.
Every Plant has fitness and must be placed in its proper surroundings so as to bring out its full beauty. Therein lies the art of landscaping. – Jens Jensen, Siftings
This is an Article on Jens Jensen (Landscape Architect). Page Contains Information, Facts Details or Explanation Guide About Jens Jensen (Landscape Architect)