Seattle Sun Newspaper - Vol. 7, Issue 7, July 2003

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Olmsted-designed gardens are

North End's hidden treasure

By JAMES BUSH

The Olmsted Brothers, creators of Seattle's 1903 park plan, are most closely associated with North End greenspaces such as Ravenna Park and Green Lake.

But one of their firm's most striking local commissions is hidden away in Seattle's northwest corner, down a driveway in a neighborhood of contemporary homes. The Dunn Gardens comprises 7.5 acres of Olmstedian beauty: elegant groupings of trees, shrubs, and other plantings, broad lawns, and woodland paths executed in the graceful curves typical of the work of landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and his sons. (James Frederick Dawson, the Olmsted firm's West Coast representative at the time, probably created this particular design).

The property was originally the private estate of Arthur Dunn, who hired the Olmsted firm in 1915 to design the grounds of his vacation property. The highlands north of Carkeek Park were considered well out in the woods at the time, and Dunn was able to purchase his original 10-acre wooded parcel for just $7,500, says docent Hope Stroble.

The property was divided between Arthur Dunn's children in the 1940s, says Stroble. Son Edward staked his claim to a cottage and 2.7 acres, which he developed into a modern woodland garden. Edward Dunn's garden mirrored his interests: the many deciduous trees reflect his East Coast roots, while other plantings show his lifelong interest in rhododendrons, says Stroble. He was president of the Arboretum Foundation in the late 1950s and president of the American Rhododendron Society in the late 1960s.

But the former Dunn estate shrunk to about 7.5 acres when one sister sold her land holdings to a developer for a subdivision. "This bothered Ed Dunn so badly that he decided to put his property in trust," says Stroble.

After his death, the E.B. Dunn Historic Garden Trust was formed in 1993 through Dunn's bequest of his property and a maintenance endowment. Two curators, Glenn Withey and Charles Price, live on the site and tend the entire 7.5-acre property. "They have done quite a bit. They've added a lot of interest to this garden," says Stroble. "They have brought in many, many unusual plantsthings you don't see anywhere else."

Although split into three legal parcels, the Dunn estate still retains many of the features from its original Olmsted plan. The property is tended as a single entity, and the two Dunn family members who still live in homes on the site allow tour groups to access their yards.

Stroble was one of the first group of docents recruited to lead tours of the Dunn Gardens. "I remember when I first came here," she told a recent tour group. "I said 'I'm going to learn every plant.'" She soon learned that the hundreds of varieties of plants make that a near-impossible task. Even the curators, she has found, occasionally can't remember the names of everything they've planted.

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Guided tours of Dunn Gardens can be scheduled on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays from April through July and September through October. The gardens are closed during August. Admission is $10; no children under 12 or pets allowed. For information, call 362-0933 or look up the Web site at www.dunngardens.org.