Stephen Child: Visionary landscape architect

Abstract

Colonia Solana neighborhood in Tucson, Arizona was designed in 1928 by landscape architect Stephen Child. The use of native plants and topography as the basis for the site plan was unusual in 1928, and also has applicability today as the basis for an ecologically sound, self-sustaining landscape. Factors influencing Tucson's early development were examined as the background of this subdivision. Thus Colonia Solana neighborhood, the last work known to have been designed by Child prior to his death in 1936, became the starting point for inqueries into the life and other works of the landscape architect. It was discovered that Stephen Child (1866-1936) was not only a landscape architect, and one of the early advocates for the use of native plants; he was also a charter member of the American City Planning Institute in 1917. His works in Boston, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, and Tucson were documented.