University of Delaware

The beauty of the surrounding landscape on the University's South Green is the result of careful planning in the 1920s by one of the first female landscape architects in the United States, Marian Cruger Coffin. Miss Coffin designed and directed UD landscaping projects until 1952.

Born in New York on Sept. 16, 1876, of a socially prominent family, Miss Coffin chose a career in landscape architecture at a time when it was not fashionable for a woman to do so. She was the only woman in a class of 500 in 1904 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned a degree in landscape architecture.

Miss Coffin's commission for the design of the Newark campus, considered a hallmark of the history of American landscape design, was awarded after her work in landscaping the private residences of the three prominent Delaware College trustees: Chairman Rodney Sharp's Gibraltar, Henry duPont's Winterthur and the estate of Lammot duPont.

Miss Coffin's design for plantings, arrangements and walkways of the college campus greatly enhanced the character of the landscape, integrating the formal style of the original 1917 architect's plan for the Men's Campus with a softer, more "romantic" character on the Women's Campus.

The union of these two campuses was also clearly envisioned by Marian Coffin. Her



design masterpiece, this Magnolia Circle at the heart of the University of Delaware Green, creates the illusion of a continuous axis between what was once Delaware College and the Women's College.

During the renovation of nearby Memorial Hall, completed in 1999, significant landscaping restoration reflecting her original plan was accomplished. Despite the years of growth and change, Marian Cruger Coffin's fluid design continues to contribute to the beauty of this campus, by gracefully integrating architecture and plantings to create what has been called "absolutely the most gorgeous campus anywhere."

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