American landscape architect and garden designer, author and pioneer of the 'California Style', using asymmetrical plans, raised planting beds, sitting walls and timber decks. Thomas Church's most famous garden design was the El Novillero garden at Sonoma (1947-9). Church wrote Gardens for People in 1955. Thomas Church was born in Boston and studied landscape architecture at both Harvard and Berkeley. By the end of the 1930s, and after making contact with Alvar Aalto, Thomas Church adopted a wholly Abstract Style for his garden design. Most of his work was private gardens but he also worked on campus plans for the Universities of California (at Berkeley) and Stamford (at Santa Cruz) and on the headquarters of Sunset Magazine.
Gardens designed by Church, Thomas
