Nathan Franklin Barrett

Nathan Franklin Barrett (November 19, 1845 – October 16, 1919) was an American landscape architect. He is best known for his designs for company town of Pullman, Illinois, the Hotel Ponce de Leon in Florida and Naumkeag in Stockbridge, Massachusetts. Barrett was a founding member and president of the American Society of Landscape Architects. He also maintained a long working relationship with many noted architects and firms of the time including those of McKim, Mead & White, Carrère and Hastings and Horace Trumbauer.

Early life Barrett was born in 1845 near present-day New Brighton on Staten Island. His father, John Thorndike Barrett was a wealthy dye manufacturer with deep roots in New England. His uncle, Col. Nathan Barrett built one of the earliest industrial parks in the country at "Factoryville" on Staten Island. Barrett went to sea for a brief period before returning to serve in the army during the Civil War. Barrett served with distinction as a 1st Lieutenant of the 156th New York Infantry. Barrett began his training as a landscape architect in 1866 by running his brother's nursery and educating himself in formal designs by available literary sources and with instruction from the family's Irish gardener. At that time the art of landscape architecture was but little known in this country.

Career Barrett's first commissions began in 1869. His early works were largely rail stations in which he received a contract from the Central Railroad of New Jersey. From this early starting point Barrett began to gain notoriety. His work at Pullman led to other municipal commissions throughout the 1880s and 90s including those at Fort Worth, Texas, Chevy Chase, Maryland, and Birmingham, Alabama. Barrett's association with Pullman continued with the design of Pullman's estate in New Jersey. The two men would remain friends til Pullman's death in 1897.

In 1885 Barrett was hired by Carrère and Hastings to lay out the grounds and surrounding area of the Hotel Ponce de Leon in St. Augustine, Florida. The success of the commission enabled Barrett to become the foremost proponent of formal garden design in the country. Barrett would go one to design many other major American country estates including "Lynnewood Hall" in Elkins Park PA,(design by Horace Trumbauer), "Woodlea" in Scarborough NY (also by Mckim Mead & White) and "Hammersmith Farm" the Newport home of Hugh Auchincloss. He worked up until several months before his death. He died October 16, 1919, at Mount Vernon Hospital in Mount Vernon, New York, from throat cancer. His remaining projects and alterations to his projects were taken on by Olmsted Brothers and Jacques-Henri-Auguste Gréber, with whom he worked closely on many projects, and who were also rivals for work in his later years.

Personal life

Barrett was married June 6, 1870, at Athens, Georgia, to Lucy Mildred Lampkin, the daughter of a Confederate officer and of the prominent Cobb family of Georgia. The couple had seven children, of which only one survived beyond his father. Lucy Mildred Barrett died May 30, 1886, after which Barrett married Clara Adele Weiss, the daughter of a prosperous Yonkers merchant.

Major works The following sites were major known projects of Nathan F. Barrett. He was known to have done projects as far west as California but many of his projects have not been recorded. Many of the sites below have been altered by later designers or demolished by developers.

Town and development plans

Atlanta, GA (Peters Park failed development) Bergen Point, NJ Birmingham, AL Chevy Chase, MD Deal Lake, NJ Decatur, AL (a.k.a. New Decatur and Albany) Elberon, NJ Fort Worth, TX (North Fort Worth, currently known as Belmont Terrace) Pullman, IL Rochelle Park, New Rochelle, NY Winter Harbor, ME Yonkers, NY (Van Cortlandt Terrace development)

Country estates

Ballingary, Spring Lake, NJ - for Martin Maloney (demolished) Bayberry Point, Islip, NY - for H. O. Havemeyer C. B. Alexander Residence, Tuxedo, NY Dunmere, Narragansett Pier, RI (house demolished, grounds and out-buildings remain) Fairlawn, Elberon, NJ - for George M. Pullman (demolished) F. D. Adams Residence, Seabright, NJ Hammersmith Farm, Newport, RI - for H.D. Auchincloss Sr. Hill Crest, Red Bank, NJ - for W.F. Havemeyer John Butler Residence, Pelham, NY Lynnewood Hall, Elkins Park, PA - for P.A.B. Widener Naumkeag, Stockbridge, MA - for Joseph H. Choate Norman B. Ream estate, Thompson, CT (house demolished, grounds remain) Oronoque, Stockbridge, MA - for Birdseye Blakeman Roslyn Hall, Wheatley Hills, NY - for Stanley Mortimer R. W. Lesley Residence, Haverford, PA - for Mrs. Robert W. Lesley Woodlea, Scarborough, NY - for Elliot F. Shepard and later Margaret Vanderbilt Shepard

Parks and cemeteries

Arcade Park, Pullman, IL Branch Brook Park, Newark, NJ Delano Park, Decatur, AL Circle Park, Fort Worth, TX Hillsdale Cemetery, Anniston, AL Lordship Park, Stratford, CT The Palisade Interstate Park, NY and NJ The White City, 1893 World's Columbian Exposition, Chicago, IL (under direction of F.L. Olmsted)

Hotels/resorts

Ponce-de-Leon Hotel, St. Augustine, FL (now Flagler College) Grindstone Inn, Grindstone Neck, Winter Harbor, ME

Other

Actor's Home, West Brighton, NY (demolished)