George Gibbs Jr.

George Gibbs Jr.

Quick Facts

Significance:

Landscape Architect in the Olmsted Firm

Place of Birth:

Riverton, KY

Date of Birth:

January 6, 1878

Place of Death:

Palos Verdes, CA

Date of Death:

December 19, 1950

Notable Projects while at the Olmsted Firm:
Southside Playground Parks, Chicago, Illinois
Denver Mountain Park System, Denver, Colorado
Berea College, Berea, Kentucky
Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania
Palos Verdes Estates, California

George Gibbs had two stints with the Olmsted firm, from 1905 to 1914, shortly after receiving his landscape architecture degree from Harvard, and later from the mid-1920’s to 1933 as a chief assistant in the Olmsted firm’s Palos Verdes, California satellite office. During the earlier period his portfolio included several educational institutions, including Lafayette College in Pennsylvania, Berea College in Kentucky, and the Bennett School for Girls in Irvington, New York.

 

During the later period he supervised construction of the Palos Verdes residential development, where he also had a home, and worked on other subdivisions on the west coast. Gibbs had a number of noteworthy professional accomplishments outside the Olmsted firm. As an expert investigator for the City Planning Board in Boston, he authored East Boston: A Survey and Comprehensive Plan in 1916. This work is still consulted today. From 1921 to 1923 he lived in France, overseeing for the army the planning and construction of American cemeteries in France, Belgium, and England.

 

He also did a good deal of public service, advising the U.S. Forest Service on the Kings River Canyon Project and working for the Civilian Conservation Corps to help develop master plans for northern California state parks. Towards the end of his career, from 1938 to 1950, he had his own landscape architecture office in Palos Verdes.