View source for Blake Garden (Kensington, California)

{{Infobox park
| name = Blake Garden
| alt_name = 
| photo = Blake House (University of California Presidential Residence) 2.jpg
| photo_width = 250
| photo_caption = Formal Garden with reflecting pool and Blake House in Blake Garden
| type = Public
| location = 70 Rincon Road<br/>[[Kensington, California]], United States
| map = USA California#USA
| coords = {{coord|37.91346|N|122.28521|W|region:US-CA|format=dms|display=inline,title}}
| area = {{convert|10.6|acre|ha}}
| created = {{Start date|1957}} by 
| operator = 
| visitation_num = 
| status = Open year round
| open = 
| website = [http://blakegarden.ced.berkeley.edu/ Official Blake Garden website]
}}

'''Blake Garden''' is a teaching facility for the [[UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design]] in the hills of [[Kensington, California]], a census-designated place of the [[East Bay]] region of the [[Bay Area]] in [[Northern California]], approximately {{cvt|4|mi}} north of the main [[University of California, Berkeley]] campus. It was originally designed by landscape architect Mabel Symmes for the estate owned by her sister and brother-in-law, Anita and Anson Blake; the trio lived in '''Blake House''', a mansion on the estate designed by architect [[Walter Danforth Bliss]] and completed in 1924. The Blakes deeded the grounds to their alma mater, the [[University of California]], in 1957, which took full control after Anita's death in 1962, implementing a redesign by [[Geraldine Knight Scott]] starting from 1964. Blake House served as the official residence of the [[President of the University of California]] from 1967 to 2008. Since 2009, Blake Garden has been open to the public on weekdays.

==History==
===Blake family===
''<u>In Berkeley (before Kensington).</u>''

One of the original trustees of the University of California, Anson Gale Stiles, purchased land on [[Piedmont Avenue (Berkeley)|Piedmont Avenue]], east of the present-day [[University of California, Berkeley|Berkeley]] campus in the late 1860s.<ref name="Cohn">{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/UC-Berkeley-s-secret-garden-Lush-retreat-for-2848053.php |title=UC Berkeley's 'secret garden' / Lush retreat for nature lovers in Kensington |author=Cohn, Abby |date=November 30, 2001 |work=San Francisco Chronicle |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref>  Anson's Piedmont house was completed in 1895.<ref name="Haymaker">{{cite journal |url=https://archive.org/details/blakeestateoral00riesrich/page/n705/mode/2up |title=Blake Garden |author=Haymaker, Linda |date=Spring 1987 |volume=48 |number=1 |journal=Pacific Horticulture |access-date=26 December 2022 |pages=8–13}}</ref>  Anson ultimately left the property to his daughter, Harriet Waters Stiles (1840–1928).  Additionally, two of Harriet's sons, Anson Stiles Blake (1870–1959) and Edwin Tyler Blake (1875–1949), would later build homes and gardens on this same property.

<u>''In Kensington.''</u>

When the Stiles/Blake family land on Piedmont was later purchased by the university in 1922 to build [[California Memorial Stadium|Memorial Stadium]], the families relocated to a {{cvt|45|acre|adj=on}} site in Kensington, encompassing where Blake Garden is today.  The site was owned by Harriet who divided the land evenly between her four children: Eliza; Robert; Edwin; and Anson.

Two of those children - Eliza Seely Blake Thatcher (1872–1944), and [[Robert Pierpont Blake]] (1886–1950) - lived outside the Bay Area and sold their shares to developers.<ref name="Riess">{{cite book |title=Blake Estate Oral History Project |publisher=Bancroft Library, University of California |url=https://archive.org/details/blakeestateoral00riesrich/mode/2up |date=1988 |author=Riess, Suzanne B.}}</ref>{{rp|iii}}

The two other siblings, Anson and Edwin Blake, built two homes on the property in the Kensington hills.  Anson Blake's house was completed in 1925, and is also known as ''La Casa Adelante.''  Edwin Blake's house is also known as ''Quinta de La Lilas.''<ref name="Symmes">{{cite web |title=Symmes Design |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/symmes-design |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives}}</ref>

The widowed Harriet would live with Edwin, while Anson's sister-in-law, Mabel Symmes (1875–1962), would live with Anson and Anita (1872–1962), his wife and Mabel's sister.<ref name="BlakeEstate">{{cite web |title=The Blake Estate |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/blake-estate |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives}}</ref> Anita and Mabel transplanted much of the Piedmont garden to the new Kensington site, taking four months and thirty truckloads to do so.<ref name="Ray" />

Anson Blake's house is now Blake Garden (see below).  Over the next thirty years, the Symmes sisters would continue to collect botanical specimens and develop the site. A small colony of semi-[[feral cat]]s kept the rodent population from eating the plants.<ref name="Ray" /> From the start, the Blakes invited students from the Department of Landscape Architecture at the University of California to the estate.<ref name="Riess" />{{rp|vi}}

Edwin Blake's house is now a Carmelite Monastery, which is adjacent to Blake Garden.

===University of California===
The garden was deeded to the University of California in 1957 by Anson and Anita Blake,<ref name=BlakeEstate/> and [[Mai Arbegast]] was appointed acting director of Blake Garden, working closely with the family to identify and catalog the plant species that had been collected.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/arbegast |title=[Mai Kitazawa] Arbegast |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> Title on the site passed to the university upon the deaths of Anita Blake and her sister Mabel Symmes in 1962. [[Geraldine Knight Scott]] was appointed director of Blake Garden and began preparing the site for public visitation by clearing overgrown foliage and creating an influential ''Long Range Development Plan'' in 1964.<ref name=Scott>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/scott |title=[Geraldine Knight] Scott |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> For a "brief and unsatisfactory" time from 1962 to 1964,<ref name=Haymaker/> it was used as a women's graduate student dormitory.<ref name=PD-1969/><ref name=Riess/>{{rp|132}} The remote location proved to be frightening at night and too distant, at approximately {{cvt|4|mi}} north of the Berkeley campus.<ref name=PresRes>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/scott/presidents-residence |title=Becoming the President's Residence |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref>

The President of the University of California had traditionally lived in [[University House, Berkeley|President's House]], a residence on the Berkeley campus; when [[Clark Kerr]] was promoted from the Chancellor of Berkeley to UC president, he continued to live in his own private residence, and had President's House remodeled into University House to hold official events. University House would become the Berkeley chancellor's residence in 1965, when [[Roger W. Heyns]] moved into the house. In 1967, [[Charles Hitch]] succeeded Kerr as UC president and selected Blake House as his residence; it would continue to serve as the residence for the University of California president from 1967 to 2008.<ref>{{cite web |title=University of California buys $6.5M Berkeley home for its president |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/04/12/uc-buys-6-5-million-berkeley-mansion-president |website=Berkeleyside |date=12 April 2022 |access-date=30 June 2022}}</ref> Hitch moved into the residence in April 1969, following a {{USD|459000|1969|round=-3}} refurbishment paid through private donations.<ref name=PD-1969>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SRPD19690615.1.8 |title=$459,000 in Private Gifts Spent on UC Chief's Home |agency=UPI |date=June 15, 1969 |newspaper=Press Democrat |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> Improvements were designed by the architects Ron and Myra Brocchini, and upgrades to the grounds were designed by Scott to increase security and privacy while maintaining public access, including the stucco wall and fencing east of Blake House.<ref name=PresRes/> Hitch also paid a "posessory interest" tax equivalent to a [[property tax]] directly to Contra Costa County from his own pocket.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=SBS19730427.1.36 |title=University officials receive big benefits |author=McFadden, Charles |date=April 27, 1973 |newspaper=San Bernardino Sun |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref>

Russell Beatty succeeded Scott as the director of Blake Garden in 1967, implementing a new mission as an "outdoor laboratory" for student projects in landscape architecture.<ref name=Beatty>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/beatty |title=[Russell] Beatty |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> In addition, the Children's Adventure Garden and Playground was built in 1970, spearheaded by [[Walter Doty]], and ran for three years, with children responsible for tending plants under the guidance of Berkeley students.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/beatty/adventure-garden |title=Children's Adventure Garden |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> Under Beatty, the Cut-Flower Garden was created in 1973 and a bouquet was delivered daily to the House.<ref name=Beatty/>

Hitch's successor as UC President, [[David S. Saxon]], lived in Blake House from 1975 to 1983.<ref name=Riess/>{{rp|vii}} In 1983, the University of California helped incoming President [[David P. Gardner]] purchase a different home in [[Orinda, California|Orinda]], as Blake House was configured with only two bedrooms at the time and Gardner wanted more privacy.<ref name="Aggie83">{{cite news |author=Akers-Sassaman, J.W. |date=July 20, 1983 |title=UC President To Buy $500,000 Home |work=California Aggie |url=https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=UCD19830720.2.11 |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> Nevertheless, Gardner used Blake House for official events and as an off-campus presidential office.<ref name=Riess/>{{rp|vii}} In 2002, an inspection revealed cracks and water damage; [[Robert Dynes]] called it "pretty much unlivable" with a leaky roof, mold, and broken fixtures.<ref name=LAT-2010/> [[Mark Yudof]] broke from tradition when he became UC President in 2008; as part of his vow to bring "fiscal responsibility" to the system, he chose to live in a rented house instead of spending the estimated US$10&nbsp;million in renovations and refurbishment for Blake House,<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/education/22bcyudof.html |title=University Head's Housing Raises Ire |author=Fainaru, Steve |date=August 21, 2010 |newspaper=The New York Times |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref> although a few events continued to be held at Blake House. The chair of the [[Regents of the University of California]], [[Russell Gould]], described the mansion as having "great bones, but it is a money pit."<ref name=LAT-2010>{{cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2010-oct-04-la-me-uc-house-20101004-story.html |title=UC weighs what to do with abandoned president's mansion |author=Gordon, Larry |date=October 4, 2010 |work=Los Angeles Times |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref> In 2013, incoming UC president [[Janet Napolitano]] rented a house in Oakland as her presidential residence; at the time, Blake House was called "stately, but run-down" and it was estimated that required renovations could cost up to US$6&nbsp;million, compared to the US$100,000 annual cost of renting a suitable house.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/blake-house-vacant-uc-presidents-mansion-may-be-restored/1924060/ |title=Janet Napolitano May Move Into Restored UC President's Mansion |author=Leff, Lisa |date=September 17, 2013 |agency=AP |work=NBC Bay Area |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref>

The [[Seldon Williams House]], a historic residence at 2821 Clairemont Blvd, designed by [[Julia Morgan]] and completed in 1928, was purchased for the UC president in 2021;<ref>{{cite news |url=https://www.berkeleyside.org/2022/04/12/uc-buys-6-5-million-berkeley-mansion-president |title=University of California buys $6.5M Berkeley home for its president |author=Dinkelspiel, Frances |author-link=Frances Dinkelspiel |date=April 12, 2022 |work=Berkeleyside |access-date=26 December 2022}}</ref> according to a news release describing that acquisition, "UC's former official presidential residence, Blake House in Kensington, has been uninhabitable for more than a decade because of extensive — and cost-prohibitive — deferred maintenance, in addition to significant seismic risks and landslide hazards. The university plans to sell this property at an appropriate time, with proceeds going to UC Berkeley's College of Environmental Design."<ref>{{cite web |title=Architectural gem returns to UC |date=23 December 2021 |url=https://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/content/historic-architectural-gem-returns-uc |publisher=University of California |access-date=30 June 2022}}</ref> The upper garden is crossed by the [[Hayward Fault]], which runs through Kensington parallel to Arlington Avenue, and the site is part of an area considered "highly susceptible to movement" as a potential site of a future major earthquake.<ref name=Geology>{{cite web |url=https://virtualcollections.ced.berkeley.edu/exhibits/show/blake/surveys |title=Geology and Hydrology |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley, College of Environmental Design Archives |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref>

==Design==
===Blake House and Formal Garden===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px" widths="200px">
File:Blake Garden 11.jpg|Western facade of Blake House, from the Lower Lawn
File:Blake Garden 3.jpg|Eastern facade of Blake House
File:Blake Garden 30.jpg|''Formal Garden'' and grotto with reflecting pool, east of Blake House
File:Blake Garden CA.jpg|Eastern facade and reflecting pool with magnolia trees
</gallery>
Blake House was a 27-room mansion designed in a Spanish style by [[Walter Danforth Bliss]]<ref name="History">{{cite web |title=The History of the Garden |url=https://blakegarden.ced.berkeley.edu/history |access-date=23 December 2022 |website=Blake Garden |publisher=UC Berkeley College of Environmental Design |archive-date=24 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221224000834/https://blakegarden.ced.berkeley.edu/history |url-status=dead }}</ref> for Anson Blake and his wife Anita.<ref name=PD-1969/> Hitch called it "the biggest three-bedroom house in the world", as the first floor was used for formal receptions and official functions, while residential spaces were limited to the second floor.<ref name=SFG-2022>{{cite news |url=https://www.sfgate.com/travel/article/kensington-blake-garden-turns-100-16990272.php |title=This 100-year-old untapped East Bay gem is turning a new leaf |author=Valentino, Silas |date=March 12, 2022 |work=SF Gate |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref> The 1967–68 remodel as the UC Presidential house left the building with {{cvt|12434|ft2}} of floor space, seven bathrooms, two kitchens, and three bedrooms.<ref name=Riess/>{{rp|vii}} Blake Garden occupies a site with grades of up to 50%; the land east of Blake House, sited on the upper third, is relatively flat, while the land west of the House is much steeper.<ref name=Haymaker/> The grounds are divided into five "garden rooms": the ''Formal Garden'' east of the House; ''Redwood Canyon'' to the north of the House; the areas ''West of the House'', including the Lower Lawn and Mediterranean Section; ''Australian Hollow'' south of the House, and the ''Cut-Flower Garden'' east of Australian Hollow, including a vegetable garden, the Cottage Garden, the Square Garden, greenhouses, and tool sheds used by the Blake Garden staff. In addition, there is an entrance area that connects the House with Rincon Road to the east.<ref name=SFG-2022/>
{{Tilden Park map |side=left}}

The siting of Blake House is integral to the garden's design: it shelters the ''Formal Garden'' from the strong prevailing winds off the [[Golden Gate]].<ref name=Haymaker/><ref name=SFG-2022/> The grounds for both estates were designed by Mrs. Blake's sister, Mabel Symmes, who graduated from the university's Landscape Architecture Department in 1914.  Ms. Symmes' original plan showed great sensitivity to the site.  Much of her original plan can still be seen in the design of the ''Formal Gardens'' east of the house, with its grotto, inspired by the [[Villa Rufinella|Villa Tusculana]] at [[Frascati]], Italy and the [[reflecting pool]] which was part of a system to take advantage of underground water.<ref name=Symmes/> The koi that live in the pool are named for Blake family members.<ref name=SFG-2022/>

The garden is home to nearly 1500 plant species, over fifty bird species, as well as raccoons, frogs, salamanders, and the occasional fox.  The garden is all [[Organic horticulture|organic]], with many sustainable practices including four kinds of [[composting]], [[rainwater harvesting]], and hives of [[honeybee]]s. Decorations in the Garden include several sculptures with Asian themes, such as the glazed pagoda, which were purchased and installed originally by Anita Blake.<ref name=Ray/>
{{clear left}}

===Outdoor garden rooms in Blake Garden===
<gallery mode="packed" heights="150px" widths="200px">
File:Blake Garden 37.jpg|''Redwood Canyon'' and creek
File:Blake Garden 1283 (6130050657).jpg|Disconnected stone bridge over the ''Redwood Canyon'' stream
File:Blake Garden 19.jpg|View west to the [[Golden Gate Bridge]]
File:Blake Garden 42.jpg|[[Garrett Eckbo]] pergola in the ''Mediterranean Garden''
File:Blake Garden 18.jpg|Blackberry brush tunnel in ''Australian Hollow''
</gallery>
There are two streams on-site, draining the north and south edges; both were stabilized with vegetation during construction.<ref name=Haymaker/> The ''Redwood Canyon'', with [[redwood]] cuttings brought from the Blakes' properties in Berkeley and St. Helena, is planted along a natural waterway. It also divides the property from the adjacent Carmelite Monastery.<ref name=SFG-2022/> In Symmes' original design, the adjoining Edwin Blake garden was designed to be a contiguous extension of the Anson and Anita Blake property; the Carmelites later built a fence north of the canyon, disconnecting a stone bridge that spans the stream. Most of the plants here are shade-tolerant.<ref name=Ray>{{cite journal |url=https://cglhs.org/resources/Documents/EDEN.Spring.2019.vol22.no.2.DIGITAL.pdf#page=3 |title=Blake Garden History: 1922 to 1970 |author=Ray, Meghan |date=Spring 2019 |volume=22 |number=2 |pages=4–11 |journal=Eden |publisher=California Garden & Landscape History Society}}</ref>

Plantings on the steep slope west of the house include the ''Mediterranean Garden'', a showcase of drought-tolerant plants from the world's [[Mediterranean climate]]s in diamond-shaped beds linked by switchback paths leading to a lookout over the Bay on the property's western edge,<ref name=Ray/> near a large [[lawsonite]] rock outcropping<ref name=SFG-2022/> and a picnic shelter reconstructed by Professor [[Garrett Eckbo]].<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newsarchive.berkeley.edu/news/berkeleyan/1995/0524/blake.html |title=Blake Abloom |author=Sommer, Julia |date=May 24, 1995 |work=Berkeleyan |access-date=23 December 2022}}</ref>

The original plan also shows a lake in the ''Australian Hollow'', the southwestern corner of the property, taking advantage of the high water table in that part of the garden.<ref name=Gracyk>{{cite journal |url=https://cglhs.org/resources/Documents/EDEN.Summer.2020.vol23.%20no.3.DIGITAL.pdf#page=19 |title=The Elusive Mabel Symmes |author=Gracyk, Janet |date=Summer 2020 |volume=23 |number=3 |pages=36–47 |journal=Eden |publisher=California Garden & Landscape History Society}}</ref> In 2010 this area was restored to a native wetland by UC students, volunteers and Blake Garden staff.  The wetland now provides habitat to a community of [[Pacific chorus frog]]s and area birds. This area is distinguished by a thornless blackberry brush tunnel.<ref name=SFG-2022/>

South of Blake House, Anita Blake and Mabel Symmes had planned and built a formal, symmetric ''Rose Garden'' surrounding a square pool.<ref name=Ray/> This is now the ''Square Garden'', retaining the water lily-filled pond, but with flower beds brimming with low-water [[Perennial plant|perennial]]s instead of roses.<ref name=Ray/> The area southeast of the House has been developed as the ''Cut Flower Garden'', including the ''Cottage Garden'', which has roses, flowers for cutting, vegetables and herbs and the ''Event Lawn'' and surrounding beds, another example of water-smart gardening. Additionally, the ''Create with Nature Zone'' offers a space for visitors of all ages to experiment and build with materials collected from the garden.

== Residents ==
* 1928–1962: Blake family (Anson Blake, Anita Blake, and Mabel Symmes)
* 1962–1964: Prytanean Alumni Foundation (female graduate students)
* 1969–1975: UC President [[Charles J. Hitch]]
* 1975–1983: UC President [[David S. Saxon]]
* 1983–1992: none, but hosted official events
* 1992–1995: UC President [[Jack Peltason]]
* 1995–2003: UC President [[Richard C. Atkinson]]
* 2003–2008: UC President [[Robert C. Dynes]]

== See also ==
* [[List of botanical gardens and arboretums in California]]
* [[List of botanical gardens in the United States]]
{{clear}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Further reading===
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1945 |volume=VII |number= |pages=210–216 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society <!--|url=https://www.google.com/books/edition/_/S8RGAAAAYAAJ-->}}
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante Part II: The terrace and the long pool |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1945 |volume=VII |number= |pages=314–318 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society}}
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante: The Square Gardens and the Groves {{!}} The South Garden |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1945 |volume=VII |number= |pages=358–361 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society}}
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante: The Square Gardens and the Groves {{!}} The North Garden |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1945 |volume=VII |number= |pages=382–386 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society}}
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante: The Canyon |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1946 |volume=VIII |number= |pages=23–27 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society}}
* {{cite journal |title=Adelante: The Canyon (concluded) |author=Symmes, Mabel |date=1946 |volume=VIII |number= |pages=68–72 |journal=Journal of the California Horticultural Society |publisher=California Horticultural Society}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Blake Garden}}
*[http://blakegarden.ced.berkeley.edu/ Official Blake Garden website]
* {{cite book |title=Blake Estate Oral History Project |publisher=Bancroft Library, University of California |url=https://archive.org/details/blakeestateoral00riesrich/mode/2up |date=1988 |author=Riess, Suzanne B.}} [https://openlibrary.org/books/OL7166017M/Blake_Estate_oral_history_project Alternate link] at ''openlibrary.org''
*''Visiting Eden: The Public Gardens of Northern California'', photographs by Melba Levick, text by Joan Chatfield-Taylor. Chronicle Books, 1993, {{ISBN|0-8118-0107-1}}

{{University of California presidents}}

[[Category:Gardens in California]]
[[Category:Berkeley Hills]]
[[Category:University of California, Berkeley buildings]]
[[Category:Botanical gardens in California]]
[[Category:Arboreta in California]]
[[Category:Landscape design history of the United States]]
[[Category:Protected areas of Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Contra Costa County, California]]
[[Category:Official residences in California]]