Mills College Heritage Landscape Planning

SCUP's Campus Heritage Network is an ongoing research project funded by the Getty Grant Foundation. SCUP is working to derive lessons learned from 85 campus heritage-related planning projects funded by Getty from 2002–2007. SCUP staffer Claire Turcotte, administrator of the project and also a member of the research team has produced a summary of the landscape heritage report filed with Getty by Mills College. You can find that summary here, as well as a PDF of the complete report and a link to Mills College heritage buildings in the Council of Independent Colleges' (CIC) online database from its Historic Campus Architecture Project.

If you are at all interested in campus heritage preservation, you should join the Campus Heritage Network to stay connected to others with the same interest.

Since 1868, Mills College founders, and those who followed, shaped the campus with Picturesque-era exotic and native plantings and distinguished architecture. In 2006, Mills College sought guidance on how to best preserve, enhance, and further develop this unique campus setting. Funded by the Getty Foundation and Mills College, this landscape heritage study distills the values of the college founders and how these were expressed by nationally recognized landscape architects and architects over 140 years.

The project singles out iconic resources and recommends how to balance future development with historic preservation. The project included historical research, analysis, and planning, and it culminated in design solutions for two key campus precincts to address current and future needs. The study demonstrates that the use of historic resources is integral to sustainable planning and design. The public lecture series, integration of the study into college courses, and publication of a book increased awareness and excitement about this study’s findings and recommendations. The result is a campus environment that expresses the unique identity of the institution.

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Regional SCUP Events! Enjoy the F2F company of your colleagues and peers at one of three SCUP regional conferences this spring:

• March 14–16: Baltimore, MD
• March 24–26: Cambridge, MA
• April 5–7, San Diego, CA