Of the Pacific Northwest's many residential landscapes designed by the Olmsted Brothers, Dunn Gardens is the best preserved. Located in Seattle's Broadview neighborhood just south of the Highlands, the gardens provide a great example of the signature landscapes created for our region's wealthiest residents in the early part of the twentieth century.

The Dunn and Agen Estates: A Unique Relationship

In 1914, John Agen sold half of his twenty-acre parcel of second-growth forest located just south of the Highlands to his friend Arthur Dunn. The land offered westward views to the Sound and the Olympics. Dunn and Agen subsequently retained the Olmsted firm to design their estates simultaneously (for a slight reduction in fees).

James Frederick Dawson, a designer with the Olmsted firm, produced landscape schemes for both estates. In siting buildings and designing features on the properties, Dawson took into consideration the spatial relationships shared by both properties as well as the social relationship between the two families. Such considerations and the resulting interconnected design of some elements may have been unique in all of the firm's residential work. Charles Gould, of the Seattle architecture firm of Bebb and Gould, designed both country houses.

Both homes were designed in the then-popular "Colonial Revival" style, a mode that fit with the rustic character of these country retreats. As was customary, Dawson worked with the architects to ensure that the siting of the houses took advantage of natural surroundings and views. As the original Dunn home was designed for summer-use only, it was eventually demolished and replaced with a sturdier house.

Both houses were sited on the eastern edges of large lawns across which the views could be enjoyed. Massings of trees and ornamental shrubs dotting the lawn softened the setting and created a sense of depth, and framed views to heighten the pastoral experience.

The shared road entry moving through the two properties' ten acres of undeveloped native forest provided a distinctive design feature. The road split into two gently winding curves that formed separate drives onto the developed portions of each property. In the manner of the picturesque, the drives continued to curve gently through the "forest" so that the sequencing of internal views would make the interior clearings seem expansive and heighten the sense of the natural setting. Both drives terminated in grand loops at the front door of each house, as they did on many of the Olmsted-designed estates.

The properties' interconnected path system also followed gentle curvilinear routes across and through both properties. The paths were aligned with the natural topography and created opportunities for a picturesque walk through a somewhat more genteel conifer "forest". Although most of the second-growth trees were left intact, a selective thinning of trees and interplanting of ornamentals tamed the "forest" around the edges of the lawns.

The design of the gardens and amenities on the two properties set them apart from one another. The Agen estate, planned as a year-round country place, was much more formal in character and included more amenities. It included a croquet lawn, tennis court, children's playhouse, a fenced vegetable garden with an axial walk lined with a perennial border on either side, a place for chicken coops and a garage with a caretaker's apartment above. The original design also called for a teahouse, but it was never built.

Although the plan for the Dunn residence included a tennis court, the two families shared the Agen tennis court instead, and the Dunn court was never built. Besides a garage and caretaker's residence, the only additional amenities on the Dunn property were an informal vegetable garden and a croquet lawn. This allowed for a more informal natural setting and more flexibility for Arthur Dunn to adapt the Olmsted plans to his own gardening style. Arthur Dunn specifically requested the inclusion of a large number of non-native deciduous trees which serves to set the landscape apart from most Olmsted gardens.

In the late 1950s, both the Agens and the Dunns sold the forested parcels on the easternmost portions of their property to developers. The developed portion of the Agen property was subdivided even further around the same time. Some historic features of the Agen estate remain, most notably the buildings. However, the historic character of the former Agen estate has been compromised by the subdivision of the property and the resulting significant alterations of character-defining features.

Historic Integrity and Change Over Time

Although the remaining portion of the Dunn property was divided amongst the Dunn descendants and a couple of additional homes were built on the property, the original boundaries, road alignment, spatial arrangements and other character-defining features of the Olmsted design remain intact. The new houses were sited sensitively within the existing garden.

Additionally, because Arthur Dunn passed on his gardening interest to his son Edward, the continuity of the garden character on the Dunn estate was retained. Arthur Dunn implemented the Olmsted planting plan himself and enhanced the gardens from 1916 until his death in 1945. In 1947, Edward Dunn converted the original garage into a three-bedroom home and developed his adjacent Woodland Garden in the southeast portion of the estate until his death in 1991. Both garden enthusiasts styled their gardens to fit within the Olmsted Brothers-designed spatial arrangement and naturalistic setting of the rustic "country home."

Preservation for Public Benefit

Before his death, Edward set up an endowment to fund the long term maintenance and preservation of his beloved gardens. In 1993, the E.B. Dunn Historic Garden Trust was established which paid Portico Group, a Seattle landscape architecture firm, to prepare a Master Plan for the site. Subsequently, the entire remaining five acres of the original developed portion of the Dunn estate was listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The two other parcels and their residences are still retained by Dunn family members who have donated conservation easements so that the entire five-acre property will be maintained and protected in perpetuity.

The process of nominating the garden to the National Register involves identifying whether or not a landscape is historically significant, why it is considered significant and whether or not it retains its historic integrity. Once the significance of the landscape has been established, the character-defining elements of the original design intent, as-built features, and how the character may have changed or evolved over time can be determined as the basis for developing guidelines for future preservation efforts. The most appropriate treatment approach is determined by analyzing the current conditions, historic integrity, and future uses.

Appropriate treatments are outlined in the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties. The selection of the treatment approach becomes the guiding philosophy for all future planning and maintenance of the landscape. The Dunn Gardens treatment plan is one of rehabilitation. The Secretary's Standards defines rehabilitation as "the act or process of making possible a compatible use for a property through repair, alterations and additions, while preserving those portions or features which convey its historical or cultural values." This allows for some modifications to the historic gardens to provide for greater public accessibility. Such alterations are designed for compatibility with the historic character.

The Dunn Gardens Trust's Board of Directors, with the support of the Garden Conservation Committee, directs the garden's rehabilitation and preservation. The resident curators, Charles Price and Glenn Withey, manage the gardens daily operations. Price and Withey are garden designers most noted for their design of the Bellevue Botanical Gardens Perennial Border.

The National Register recognizes the garden's significance under two of its standard criteria. The garden is distinguished by its distinctive style and because it is associated with an important person. The property is noted both for the significance on a statewide level of the Olmsted Brothers design, and for significance on a local level of the landscape's association with Ed Dunn as someone who made important contributions to the field of horticulture.

Ed was not only an avid gardener, but wrote prolifically about gardening and was considered an expert on Pacific Northwest native plants. He was also known for his collection and propagation of erythroniums (native lily species) and his work with the American Rhododendron Society.

Because preservation plans and funding sources have been established, the Olmstedian character of the original five-acre developed portion of the estate will be preserved as part of the significance of the Arthur Dunn era, when Arthur Dunn implemented and adapted this design. Additionally, within this larger landscape, the Ed Dunn house and Woodland Garden, of the later era, are considered significant in their own right and will be preserved accordingly.

The Olmsted characteristics to be preserved include the spatial relationships between the various landscape features and elements, including buildings, the curvilinear circulation system of drives and paths, plant massings, and particular features, such as the various 'garden rooms'. These garden rooms, along with existing natural features, include the Great Lawn, the Croquet Lawn, and the Ravine.

The picturesque character of the planting design will also be retained. This design emphasizes the use of ornamental shrubs and perennials as under story plants within the native conifer canopy, and includes non-native deciduous trees intermixed in the canopy. Flowering trees and shrubs, as well as large numbers of spring-flowering bulbs, are predominately featured in this mix.

The significant characteristics and features of the Ed Dunn era includes both the structures of his house and lathe house, and his adjacent garden on a 2.7-acre portion of the original Arthur Dunn estate. Recognizing the evolving nature of landscapes, Ed Dunn's Woodland Garden is preserved for its own unique character within the larger Olmsted setting. The woodland garden is noteworthy for the expanded use of numerous Rhododendrons as under story shrubs, and for the use of native perennials as groundcover. The lathe house continues to serve as a place to propagate the native erythroniums and trilliums that Ed collected so that they can be planted throughout the woodland garden as part of the evolution and preservation of this unique landscape.

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