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Building History

The house and 150-acre grounds were designed for a conservation-minded lumber executive, Prentice Bloedel (1900-1996), who started work on the property in 1954. Prentice Bloedel, and his wife, Virginia Merrill Bloedel (1902-1989), also became important philanthropists in the Puget Sound Region. Bloedel retired from the Macmillan-Bloedel Ltd., as a Vice-President in 1951;

Because of their deep interest in horticulture and garden design, the Bloedels retained a number of famed landscape architects to design the grounds of their estate, including, Fujitaro Kubota (1880-1973), who designed the Pond Garden, Kawana Koichidry, who arranged the moss gardens, and the San Francisco Modernist, Thomas Church (1902-1978), who supervised the whole design over three decades. According to an article posted by the Preservation Seattle in 08/2003 by Beth Dodrill and Heather McIntosh, "Church guided the overall design of the nearly seventy acres of developed landscape from the 1950's through the 1970's. He also designed some individual features within this unique landscape." (See Beth Dodrill and Heather McIntosh, http://www.historicseattle.org/preservationseattle/preservationenv/defaultaugust2.htm, accessed 08/11/2008)

Landscape Architect, Noble Hoggson (1899-1970) worked at the Bloedel Reserve between 1966 and 1969.

The Bloedels also worked with the landscape architect Richard Haag between 1975 and 1985, who designed a sequence of four gardens for the Bloedel Reserve.

The University of Washington professor of landscape architecture, Iain Robertson (1948-2021), also consulted on the landscape design of Bloedel Reserve. (See Bloedel Reserve.org, "Our History," accessed 11/13/2025.)

Building Notes

Tel: (206) 842-7631 (2008).

PCAD id: 3318