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Marian Cruger Coffin (September 16, 1876 – February 2, 1957) was one of the first American women to work as a professional landscape architect, and became famous for designing numerous gardens for members of the East Coast elite to whom she had connections through her mother's side of the family. As a child, she received almost no formal education but was home-tutored while living with her mother's relatives in upstate New York. Coffin was determined to embark on a career despite the social problems that it would cause for a woman of her class and enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she studied between 1901–4 as one of only four women in architecture and landscape design.〔Fleming, p. 7〕 After graduating Coffin was unable to find work with established architectural firms, due to widespread prejudice against a woman working in a male-dominated field. She set up her own practice in New York City in 1905, starting out by designing suburban gardens on Long Island. Her increasing fame led to larger commissions from wealthy and powerful East Coast families. By the 1920s she was one of the most sought-after landscape architects in the eastern United States. Coffin's clientele included some of the wealthiest and most famous families in the country, including the Fricks, the Vanderbilts, the Huttons, and the du Ponts.〔 Although the number of her commissions was greatly reduced after the onset of the Great Depression in 1930, she continued working almost until her death in 1957 at the age of 80. During her career she worked on over 130 commissions, including dozens of major estate gardens. Among her most notable creations were the gardens of Gibraltar in Wilmington, Delaware, the campus plan of the University of Delaware, the gardens of the Caumsett estate (now Caumsett State Historic Park), and those of Winterthur, Delaware. ==Early life== Coffin was born into a wealthy upper-class family in Scarborough, New York but grew up almost penniless, due to her father's death from complications of malaria when Marian was seven. During her childhood years, Coffin and her mother lived with relatives in Geneva, New York.〔Fleming, p. 8〕 She found the beautiful scenery of the area, set in the Finger Lakes of upper New York state, an inspiration; she later wrote, "even as a small girl, I loved the country, not so much gardens and growing things, for I had no experience with these . . . but simply the great outdoor world."〔Karson, p. 181〕 Although the Coffins had little money, their life with Alice's upper-class relatives gave Marian an almost aristocratic upbringing that introduced her to high society on the East Coast and enabled her to make social connections that were to be extremely valuable in later life. However, she received almost no formal education, a deficiency that caused significant problems for her in her college years.〔Ralph, p. 10〕 She was instead tutored at home, where she also enjoyed the benefits of exposure to fine art and music and became an accomplished horse rider.〔 As a relatively impoverished member of the upper class, Coffin had no independent income and faced a choice between finding a rich husband or taking up a professional career.〔 She chose the latter, despite the fact that (as noted by Martha Brookes Hutcheson, another early female landscape architect) "it was considered almost social suicide and distinctly matrimonial suicide, for a woman to enter any profession."〔Libby, p. 70〕 She aspired to find a creative role but recognized the difficulties she faced, as she later wrote: 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Marian Cruger Coffin」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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