Skip to main content

Frederic Stresau Landscape Architecture Drawings

 Collection
Identifier: MSS 0612

Scope and Content

The Frederic Stresau Architectural Landscape Drawings contain an estimated 3,232 drawings spanning Stresau's entire career from the 1950s-1980s. The drawings are arranged in rough chronological order according the original order they were received using a letter/numbering system.

Dates

  • Creation: 1954-2002

Creator

Language of Materials

English.

Access

The collection is open for research.

Biographical/Historical Note

Frederic Barnes Stresau was born in Salem Massachusetts in 1912, and grew up on the North side of Chicago, and graduating from the University of Illinois with a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree in Landscape Architecture in 1935. He was hired by the Chicago Parks Department at the suggestion of his future wife, Anne Ash (BLA Illinois 1935). They married in 1936 and decided to establish their own Landscape Architecture firm, and moved to Miami in 1937.

With the advent of World War II, the small office was closed, the family relocated and Mr. Stresau was commissioned by the Corp of Engineers to serve as the chief site planner for a new air base in Bermuda. He later served in Recife, Brazil, assisting in the planning and construction of the new air base, and, in the later stages of the war, served as a Lieutenant on Admiral Nimitz's staff in Naval Intelligence at Pearl Harbor as a photo interpreter, his group responsible for the creation of aerial maps and perspectives utilized in the attack of the Pacific islands and ultimately the bombing of Nagasaki. After the war he and the family returned to Florida, this time to Ft. Lauderdale, to establish their home and Landscape Architecture firm in 1946.

He, along with three other landscape architects's, joined the American Society of Landscape Architect's in 1953 and began to formulate the beginnings of the Florida Section of the S.E. Chapter of the ASLA. Mr. Stresau served as the S.E. Chapter President in 1958-59, National Trustee of the Florida Chapter 1960-1964, and President of the Florida Chapter in 1964-65.

In 1963 he and four other Members of the ASLA and were selected by the U.S. State Department to spend two months studying gardens in Hawaii and Japan as part of a Cultural and Technical Exchange program. It was during this time that he and fellow member Theodore Osmundson, FASLA discussed in depth the need for the Chapter to initiate and support establishment of State Professional Registration for Landscape Architects. In September of 1965 he was appointed by the Governor to serve as a Member of the State Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects for the period from 1966 to 1969. Throughout the 60's, Mr. Stresau often designed or juried exhibits at the local and state conventions for the Florida Nurseryman and Growers Association and in 1961-1963 served on the ASLA School Accreditation Committee. Finally, as the ASLA's highest recognition, he was elected a Fellow at the national meeting in Dallas in 1964 in the Election Category "Executed Works & Direct Service to the Society".

The practice of Landscape Architecture in Florida in the early 50's was still limited to residential garden design, mostly in Dade County, although some single and multi-family projects were being constructed as far north as Palm Beach. Ultimately as more significant development spread in the mid 1950's, those same moneyed individuals who had sought professional services for homes now began to require landscape architecture services for their investment ventures, which included cafeterias, banks, small commercial buildings, and the large hotels that were eventually constructed on the barrier island of Miami Beach. Many of the success stories of development in the South Florida community spread, and in the 1960's, Mr. Stresau's firm expanded to include projects throughout the eastern United States, the Bahamas and the Caribbean. Major projects included the Florida Exhibit at the New York World's Fair, hotels such as the Fontainebleau, Eden Roc, Diplomat, Doral Beach and Country Club, Pier 66 Resort and Marina, Trinidad Hilton, and many of the Marriott hotels in Atlanta, Boston, Dallas, Philadelphia, Miami, and Washington D.C. In 1964 the firm was selected to provide design services for the Tampa International Airport. The success of that venture led to the firm's selection by the Dade County Aviation Department to master plan the landscape improvements of the entire Dade County airport facility and, much later in the 80's, for the design work at the New Terminal Complex at Ft. Lauderdale.

Frederic Stresau died in 1989.

(Source: Information compiled from Frederic Stresau and Steve Trudnak)

Extent

8 Linear Feet (35 boxes, 25 Rolls (Est. 3,231 Drawings))

Abstract

Landscape architecture drawings produced by Florida landscape architect Frederic Barnes Stresau.

Physical Location

University of Florida Smathers Library Building

Alternative Format Available

Digital reproductions of selected items in the Frederic Stresau Architectural Landscape Drawings are available online via the University of Florida Digital Collections (UFDC). Please read the Permissions for Use statement for information on copyright, fair use, and use of UFDC digital objects.

Processing Information

Note: A-18 was not found during processing, but was listed on the original accession inventory.

Title
A Guide to the Frederic Stresau Landscape Architecture Drawings
Status
Completed
Author
Finding aid created by Jake Neal
Date
April 2022
Description rules
Finding Aid Prepared Using Dacs
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Description is written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the Special and Area Studies Collections, George A. Smathers Libraries, University of Florida Repository

Contact:
George A. Smathers Libraries
PO Box 117005
Gainesville Florida 32611-7005 United States of America
352-273-2755