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Shrinking Lilac Award – Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens,
Lynn Mandyke, Project Manager
For a project that the City’s Design Review Committee considers
excellent, but was not submitted for consideration of an award.
Highly deserving of
recognition is this recently unearthed and freshly restored piece of
Spokane’s history and the people who made it happen.
The original gardens
were part of an 1889 mansion designed by Kirtland Cutter. In 1940 the
mansion was demolished and the gardens were abandoned. Lynn Mandyke,
Corbin Art Director, began exploring the ruins in 1998, and over the
past nine years has spent untold (and often unpaid) hours researching,
fundraising, working with consultants and overseeing construction.
Others responsible for the renovation process include numerous
volunteers, donors, consultants, contractors, and City Parks and
Historic Preservation staff.
The result is a new
public park in Spokane that is unique to the Northwest and valuable not
only for its aesthetic and view qualities, but for the connection it
provides to Spokane’s early founders. In addition, the project is
meticulous in terms of historically accurate research and execution.
The walls, pergolas, arbors, and columns match historic photographs and
are of exceptionally fine craftsmanship. Plants have been shipped from
all over the country to ensure that the species are historically
correct. It’s a rare example of “doing things right”.
While the Design
Review Committee wasn’t thinking literally when developing the
“Shrinking Lilac Award” – the award seems matched to this project which
includes old lilacs that were being smothered by overgrowth. But
happily, now that portions of the forest canopy have been cut back to
restore the light, the shrinking lilacs in the original lilac garden are
springing back to life. |
