Jens Jensen

Danish-born American landscape-architect. He settled in Chicago, IL, in 1886, and was employed by the City Parks Department in which position he designed the American Garden in Union Park (1888) which was immensely successful with the public, but his relationship with his bosses was not always easy. Subsequently, he reshaped Union, Humboldt, Garfield, and Douglas Parks, and his design of Columbus Park (1916) has been regarded as the finest of his layouts for the West Parks system of Chicago. He also designed numerous gardens for private clients, and, through his friendship with architects of the Prairie School, designed several gardens (e.g. Coonley House, Riverside, IL (1908–12), by F. L. Wright) in which he used indigenous Mid-West flora. Jensen's large public works were very successful, and include Knickerbocker Boulevard, Hammond, IN, and the Lincoln Memorial Garden, Springfield, IL. His work led to the making of the Forest Preserve around Chicago and the State Park system of Illinois.

Bibliography

• ALA, ii/1 (1930), 34–8
• Eaton (1964)
• Grese (1992)
• Jane Turner (1996)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)