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Lovell, Edward (audio interview #1 of 1)
INTERVIEW DESCRIPTION - This interview was conducted in Lovell's home in the Los Cerritos section of Long Beach. The audio quality of the interview is good. 7/6/1988
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- 2021-08-30
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- Campus
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- *** File: uhelovell1.mp3 Audio Segments and Topics: (0:00-3:59)... Brief introduction Lovell's father moved to Covina, California from Washington with his parents. He attended UC Berkeley and returned to Washington for several years to run an orchard with his mother. Then Lovell's parents lived in Minnesota and Iowa before moving to California and settling in Long Beach. In 1921 or 1922, his father built one of the first homes on Park Avenue in Belmont Heights, setting the pattern of Spanish-style architecture in the area. Lovell's family also bought property on Pine Avenue and developed storefronts and apartment buildings. Lovell was raised and educated in Long Beach schools. (3:59-12:16)... There is an interruption in this segment when Lovell answers the telephone. Lovell father wanted him to attend USC but he decided to go Oregon State University instead because he believed he would have fewer distractions. There were about 3,000 students at Oregon State and it was in a small town. In his first year, he majored in horticulture and then switched to landscaping the second year. (12:16-15:03)... Lovell studied the architectural and landscape design of estates on the east coast and in Santa Barbara. He believes that in the past, there was little emphasis on formal architectural training for landscape designers. (15:03-19:28)... Lovell joined the Army during WWII and fought in Europe. When he returned to the United States in 1945, he was commissioned and became a gunnery school instructor at a school for noncommissioned in Oklahoma. He retired as a major . During the war, men at Oregon State were assigned areas of military training according to their field of study. The forestry and agricultural students were trained in artillery. (19:28-23:25)... Lovell returned to graduate school at Oregon State and when he finished, he moved to Oakland to work for the California Nursery Company as a landscape architect. After working there about a year he came back to Long Beach. When he had trouble finding work, he decided to open his own landscaping business. He built a home in 1950 for his family including a wife and 3 sons. Over the years he's lived in the neighborhood, the other residents have grown older. Lovell preferred living there when there more young people around. (23:25-27:11)... Lovell joined the American Society of Landscape Architects in 1952. Membership requirements at that time were not stringent and some people were allowed to join who were not competent. Most of his work in Long Beach was for residential clients. He helped design Park Estates and several apartments and schools developments in the Long Beach area. Some clients referred him to their friends and he also found clients through word of mouth. He belonged to several community organizations, which he sometime used as a way of making business contacts. (27:11-30:48)... Lovell worked on a number of beautification projects for the City of Long Beach. The city, for the most part, does not adequately maintain its property. The city's Recreation Department, however, has a records of creating beautiful new buildings and landscaped parks. New construction downtown has made the area congested and overcrowded. End of tape *** File: uhelovell2.mp3 (0:00-1:47)... Tape begins abruptly with a continued discussion of construction in downtown Long Beach. In the 1950s there were discussions about building a new city hall and some suggested locating it farther north, rather than in downtown. (1:47-4:07)... In the early 1970s, Lovell became the landscape architect for a campus Master Plan. When the campus was first laid out, in the 1950s, state planners believed the school might attract about 5,000 students. They believed these students could be accommodated in a small group of buildings on upper campus. As the student population increased, the facilities had to be expanded and some were built on lower campus. (4:07-9:39)... There is noise in the segment as an airplane flew over Lovell's home. In the early 1970s, the Long Beach State students were surveyed about their impressions of the campus. Most mentioned the red, brick buildings and the lack of foliage. The first trees planted on the campus were eucalyptus, and pine. When the landscape of the campus was planned, maintaining the lawns was always a factor that had to be considered. The development of campus facilities and landscaping was always determined by the state. Landscape and building maintenance were generally the first services eliminated when the budget was cut. (9:39-12:33)... The Botany Department argued that it needed a laboratory and this led to a plan for an arboretum. The land that was proposed for the facility turned out to be an Indian burial ground. Several sites were excavated, but they found no human remains. Elsewhere on the campus, near the Bellflower entrance, west of the international housing complex , some human remains were found and the area was reserved as an Indian cultural site and burial ground. The plans for the arboretum included a building for the University Art Museum and a Japanese garden. The Bonsai Society also planned a facility to be located near the arboretum. (12:33-19:19)... Lorraine Miller Collins contacted Lovell and asked him to review the city's plans for a garden she commissioned to honor her late husband, Earl Miller. Lovell was not impressed with these plans because the proposed facilities looked more like an amusement park than a garden. He suggested that Collins use her $250,000 gift to build a garden on the campus. Collins decided to take Lovell's advice and chose him to design a Japanese garden. Construction, however, was delayed for 2 years because Larry Collins, her husband at the time, didn't think she should sponsor building a garden with water features during a California drought. In 1978, Lovell began planing the Japanese Garden and the construction was completed in 1981. (19:19-22:05)... There is an interruption in this segment when Lovell answers the telephone. During the construction of the Japanese Garden, Lovell and his wife took Lorraine Collins to visit the site. She was impressed by its beauty and size. Lovell invited Collins to make suggestions about the landscaping and design elements of the project. Collins often suggested varieties of plants for the garden. (22:05-28:02)... Before drawing the plans for the Japanese Garden, Lovell traveled to Japan and studied the country's gardens. He adapted many of the details of the campus Japanese Garden from the hundreds of photographs he took of gardens in Japan. He also spent a great deal of time reading about Japanese garden design. He incorporated design elements representing cultural, religious, and aesthetic aspects of Japanese life. Collins wanted a tranquil setting where people could go to be alone with nature. Many people have since told Lovell that the Japanese Garden is a peaceful setting that lends itself to contemplation. (28:02-31:03)... The Japanese Garden includes pine trees and bamboo plants, as well as many Japanese plant variety. Lovell researched the kinds of Japanese plants that would flourish in the Long Beach climate and incorporated those varieties into the design. End of tape *** File: uhelovell3.mp3 (3:09-8:15)... The tea house was designed utilizing authentic Japanese elements with the exception of a Shoji wall which was built to control access to the house. The tea ceremony is very significant and the house was built to accommodate it. Collins and Lovell handpicked the scrolls and the silver and bronze table in the tea house. The elevation of the tea house relative to the rest of the Japanese Garden symbolizes the distinction between the forest and the mountains. (8:15-10:17)... The bridges at the Japanese Garden express Japanese design principals, but were planned to accommodate the disabled. In Japanese folklore, the zig zag bridge is a means to escape evil spirits. The paths were designed to be wide and paved to accommodate wheelchairs, but Lovell used crushed rock and stained the concrete to look like dirt. (10:17-12:49)... The lake in the Japanese Garden developed an algae problem and Lovell designed a platform in the lake to deal with the irrigation problems. The platform was not part of the original design and is not a Japanese design element. Lovell does not have a formal role in the maintenance of the Japanese Garden, but he is consulted when necessary. (12:49-14:33)... Many of the stone sculptures and decorations in the Japanese Garden were handpicked by Collins from Warren Imports. Lovell designed the garden to accommodate these elements. (14:33-17:49)... The design of the Japanese Garden was influenced by its budget. The cost of the garden exceeded the original budget, but Collins raised more money to cover the extra costs. Lovell is happy with the maturity of the garden, but believes the quality depends on proper maintenance. Moulder Brothers, a landscaping company, worked on the project. (17:49-19:28)... The Japanese Garden originally had a sub-irrigation system. Many of the campus maintenance people did not believe this was good a system because with it, the garden required supplemental irrigation. A conventional irrigation system was eventually installed in the gardens, but Lovell believes that the growth and the vitality of the gardens was due to the sub-irrigation system. One advantage of a conventional irrigation system is that it requires less labor than the previous system in which plants are cleaned by hand. (19:28-22:10)... Construction on the Japanese Garden began in September, 1980 and was finished in 1981. After the dedication, a CSULB student of Japanese culture charged that the garden did not following Japanese tradition. One element of the controversy involved some of the rocks in the garden which were made of concrete. Lovell responded that replacing the concrete with rocks would require additional fund raising. (22:10-26:36)... Lovell, at the time of the interview, said he would like to see more Japanese festivals in the garden. Often Long Beach residents do not know about the garden because it is not widely advertised. The purpose of the Japanese Garden is completely opposite from a public park. The garden is a place for walking and observing the aesthetic qualities of nature, not a place for playing games and picnicking. Planning and building the garden was the biggest and more important project in his professional career. End of tape
- SUBJECT BIO - Edward Lovell was the landscape architect for the California State University, Long Beach campus master plan and designed the Japanese Garden on campus. To design the garden, he traveled to Japan and studied gardens, their significance and other aspects of Japanese culture expressed in their gardens. In this single interview, he talks about how closely he worked with Loraine Miller Collins, who donated the Japanese Garden in memory of his late husband, Earl Burns Miller. He also discussed his background and education, and other professional projects in Long Beach. He was interviewed as part of a project to document the history of California State University, Long Beach. TOPICS - family background; education; Oregon State University; WWII and military service; professional career; housing; American Society of Landscape Architects; and landscaping architecture practice;CSULB campus development; landscaping; campus landscaping master plan; Earl Burns Miller; Lorraine Miller Collins; Larry Collins; CSULB Japanese Garden; and Japanese garden design;CSULB Japanese Garden; Japanese garden design elements; irrigation; maintenance; and landscape architecture practice;
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