91视频

Landscape architect Elizabeth Lord died in 1976. Her partner, Edith Schryver, died eight years later. However, their work lives on throughout the Willamette Valley and beyond. It may eventually shape the very nature of downtown Salem and how people drive, bike and walk through the neighborhood.

IF YOU GO

鈥�Visualizing a Downtown Streetscape鈥�

When: Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Where: Willamette Heritage Center, 1313 Mill St. S.E., Salem

For more information and to RSVP:

A small group is dreaming of a downtown where green strips planted with bushes, flowers and trees run through or alongside major thoroughfares 鈥� forcing drivers to slow and encouraging everyone to appreciate the beauty around them.

Blake Bural of is one of the people promoting the concept of downtown streetscapes. The idea is still being discussed, he said.

Artistic renderings exist, Bural said, but not technical drawings. Neither traffic analyses nor cost estimates have been performed.

Supporters have given a few presentations to audiences at Willamette University and the Salem Central Area Neighborhood Association.

鈥淎ll of the responses have been positive,鈥� Bural said.

City officials have not yet weighed in on what would be a dramatic change in traffic flow through downtown Salem.

As it stands, Bural said the proposal would create green space in such major downtown arteries as Court and State streets. The landscaping would extend from the Oregon State Capitol to Salem Riverfront Park, almost a mile away.

鈥淲e’d be creating a park-to-park space in downtown Salem,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e are, in essence, creating a linear park.鈥�

He likened it to the Capitol Mall in Washington, D.C.

鈥淲e’ve been going around to various businesses and presenting a big-picture concept,鈥� he said. 鈥淭his is a grassroots approach to gain momentum, inspired by design based on historical precedence,鈥� he added. 鈥淚t’s woven into this idea of including Lord and Schryver.鈥�

Roger Yost likes the idea 鈥� tentatively. He owns the Capitol Center, Salem’s tallest building, as well as the historic Reed Opera House mall.

鈥淚t depends on how it’s finally conceived,鈥� he said. 鈥淚’m all for anything that makes downtown a better experience for the shopkeepers and their customers.鈥�

How it affects parking another matter, Yost said.

鈥淚’m in favor of managed, metered parking like they have in Portland,鈥� he said. 鈥淓veryone’s afraid that’s going to drive business away from downtown, but I’m sure that’s not going to have much of an impact.鈥�

However, he added that he likes the basic idea.

鈥淯ltimately, I think making it a more nature-driven environment is a positive sign,鈥� he said.

Bural said the streetscapes would change the nature of traffic downtown.

鈥淚t would mean reducing traffic lanes and increasing bike and pedestrian access,鈥� he said. 鈥淏asically, the proposal is to get back to two lanes in all directions.鈥�

That inevitably raises concerns about congestion 鈥� even gridlock.

鈥淲e are actually reading studies that talk about how you can push as many cars through at a slower rate,鈥� Bural said. 鈥淚t has to do with the spacing of vehicles. We really don’t feel the congestion will change. Ultimately, we want people moving slower downtown. We want to enhance the pedestrian experience.鈥�

Salem landscape gardener Susan Kay Huston has worked on the basic concept, and said she is absolutely in love with the possibilities.

鈥淚t’s just been a beautiful development,鈥� Huston said. 鈥淭here haven’t been too many people involved, so you don’t get sidetracked. The origin of this design was very pure.鈥�

A hallmark of Lord and Schryver designs is integration of built and natural environments, Huston said. They’re also beautifully simple, she said, and make incredible use of limited resources.

鈥淟ord and Schryver’s approach was challenged by resources and limited choices for plants,鈥� Huston said. 鈥淭hat’s the perfect climate for brilliant design. They had very simple elements, but they developed really strong designs.鈥�

They sometimes used as few as five plants.

鈥淭hey designed the gardens I grew up with when I was a little girl,鈥� Huston said. 鈥淛ust before I was born, they did a lot of gardens around Salem I am familiar with. I’ve also restored some of the gardens. It is so exciting because when you find them it’s like archaeology. You just carefully peel back the new growth until you find the original design.鈥�

The pioneering Lord and Schryver landscape architecture firm operated in Salem from 1929 to 1969. Examples of their work abound in Salem and Portland, particularly in Portland’s Dunthorpe neighborhood. One of the more prominent examples is the garden at Salem’s Deepwood Estates.

鈥淭he physical landscape we experience here in Salem reflects their creativity,鈥� said Gretchen Carnaby, one of the leaders of the Lord and Schryver Conservancy. 鈥淭heir legacy is pretty significant and pretty obvious once you’re aware of it.

鈥淭hey preferred to work with the architect of the house. We have documented at least one instance when Elizabeth Lord asked the architect to re-orient the house a few degrees to complement the garden.鈥�

Huston said she can’t see why anyone would oppose the streetscapes inspired by Lord and Schryver.

鈥淥ur plan is so sound,鈥� Huston said. 鈥淓ven though it started as a whim, the more you look at it, it is just the perfect experience to see how a small space can be transformed by using a garden to create movement and balance.鈥�