John Claudius Loudon

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John Claudius Loudon (April 8, 1783 - 1843) was a Scottish botanist.

Contents 1 Background 2 Horticultural work 3 Publications 4 Prominent Loudon Designs 5 References 6 External links

[edit] Background

Loudon was born in Cambuslang, Lanarkshire, Scotland to a respectable farmer. Therefore as he was growing up, he developed a practical knowledge of plants and farming. As a young man, Loudon studied chemistry, botany and agriculture at the University of Edinburgh. When working on the layout of farms in South Scotland he described himself as a landscape planner. This was a time when open field land was being converted from run rig with 'ferm touns' to the landscape of enclosure which now dominates British agriculture.

[edit] Horticultural work

Around 1803, Loudon published an article entitled Observations on Laying out the Public Spaces in London in a literary journal. In this article, he recommended the introduction of lighter trees rather than those with dense canopies. Loudon was attacked by rheumatic fever in 1806 which left him crippled, but this illness did not affect his writing. As his condition deteriorated over time, Loudon was forced to use the services of a draughtsman and other aids.

Beginning in 1808, Loudon was employed by the notable General Stratton to landscape and farm his property, Tew Park, where Loudon was able to set up a school for young men to be instructed in theory of farming and modes of cultivating soil. Loudon’s design was a model of efficiency and convenience reflected in elegance and refinement. In conjunction with the goals of diffusing agricultural knowledge, Loudon published a pamphlet entitled The Utility of Agricultural Knowledge to the Sons of the Landed Proprietors of Great Britain, &c., by a Scotch Farmer and Land-Agent.

After traveling through Europe from 1813 to 1814, Loudon began to focus on the improvement of the construction of greenhouses and other agricultural systems. He ultimately developed a design for hinged surfaces that could be adjusted depending on the angle of the Sun. Loudon also developed plans for industrial worker housing and solar heating systems.

Loudon established himself as a city planner, decades before Frederick Law Olmsted and others began to work. His vision for the possibility of long term planning for London’s green spaces was illustrated within his work, Hints for Breathing Places for Metropolis published in 1829. He envisioned city growth being carefully shaped and circulation influenced by the inclusion of greenbelts.

In 1832, Loudon established the design theory entitled Gardenesque. In this style, attention was given to the individual plant and placement in the best conditions for them to grow to their potential. 19th century thought was punctuated by the belief that gardens should not mimic nature, so Gardenesque offered a solution by introducing exotics into gardens and basing layouts on abstract shapes.

Loudon was instrumental in the adoption of the term landscape architecture by the modern profession. He took up the term from Gilbert Laing Meason and gave it publicity in his Encyclopedias and in his 1840 book on the Landscape Gardening and Landscape Architecture of the Late Humphry Repton.

[edit] Publications

Loudon was a prolific horticultural and landscape design writer. His first published was The Encyclopedia of Gardening in 1822. After its success Loudon published The Encyclopedia of Agriculture in 1825. He founded the Gardener’s Magazine, the first periodical devoted solely to horticulture, in 1826. A short time later, he commenced the Magazine of Natural History in 1828.

Loudon’s other publications include:

• The Encyclopedias of Plants (1828)
• The Encyclopedia of Cottage, Farm, Villa Architecture (1834)
• Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum (1838)
• Suburban Gardener (1838)
• The Encyclopedias of Trees and Shrubs (1842)
• On the Laying Out, Planting and managing of Cemeteries (1843)

Perhaps the most significant of these, certainly the most time consuming and costly, was Arboretum et Fruticetum Britannicum. This work was published in three formats: with the plates entirely uncoloured, with botanical details hand-coloured, and fully hand-coloured. Work began in 1830 and it was first issued in sixty-three monthly parts from January 1835 to July 1838. It presented an exhaustive account of all the trees and shrubs growing in Great Britain and their history with notes on remarkable examples growing in individual gardens, together with drawings of leaves, twigs, fruits, and the shapes of leafless trees, as well as entire portraits of trees in their young and mature state. All were drawn from life, many from the parkland grounds of Syon House, one of the homes of the Duke of Northumberland to whom the work was dedicated, or from Loddiges' arboretum. 'It was on the collection maintained by this firm more than any other that J.C.Loudon relied for living material in the preparation of his great work' W.J.Bean notes, in Trees and Shrubs Hardy in the British Isles.

Through his publications, Loudon was hoping to have a far-reaching influence and spread his ideals of the creation of common space and the improvement of city planning and develop an awareness and interest in agriculture and horticulture. Through his magazines and works, he was able to communicate to the gentile as well as other professionals.

Loudon laboured under the belief that public improvements should be undertaken in a democratic fashion and in a comprehensive reasonable manner, not sporadically by the benevolence of the wealthy. In 1839, he was commissioned to design the Arboretum at Derby. In commissions such as this, Loudon was able to display the principles that he advocated in his many publications. In this space, Loudon attempted to consider the general public and their hardships and create a space where the classes could mingle easily as well as creating community pride. In order to reach his goal of creating educational environments, the planting were labeled extensively. Loudon’s design for the Derby Arboretum paralleled the Loddiges arboretum at Abney Park and served as inspiration for the Royal Botanical Gardens at Kew. In December of 1843 John Loudon died of a disease in the lungs.

The standard botanical author abbreviation Loudon is applied to species he described.

[edit] Prominent Loudon Designs

• Birmingham Botanical Gardens
• Derby Arboretum, Derby City
• Harewood House, West Yorkshire
• Abbey Cemetery, Bath and North East Somerset
• Ditchley, Oxfordshire
• Garth, The, Guilsfield, Powys
• Stradsett Hall, Norfolk

designed by others in Loudon's 'Gardenesque' style:

• Abney Park Cemetery, London - designed by George Loddiges and William Hosking with elements of 'Gardenesque', and most particularly an arboretum Loudon spoke highly of (J.C.Loudon, 1981 reprint)

[edit] References

• Loudon, J.C. (1843; 1981 reprint). On the Laying Out, planting & Managing of Cemeteries. Redhill, Surrey: Ivelet
• Rogers, Elizabeth B. (2001). Landscape Design: A Cultural and Architecture History. New York: Harry N. Abrams, Inc.
• Thompson, I. (2003). 19th Century Design. Retrieved September 23, 2004 from [1]
• Turner, Tom. (&). Introduction to John Claudius Loudon’s 1829 plan for London. Retrieved September 23, 2004 from [2]

[edit] External links

• Online text of J.C. Loudon's world history of garden design This forms part of the 1835 edition of Loudon's Encyclopedia of Gardening.