Loutrel briggs biography of barack

By P. Michael Ethridge, ASLA, PLA

The history of ASLA in South Carolina cannot be separated from the many landscape architects who formed the core of the profession in the state.

The first landscape architect to practice in South Carolina was Loutrel Winslow Briggs, who was born in New York, opened a practice here in 1929, after visiting the city a couple years prior. He is credited with creating the style of the typical “Charleston Garden.”

The modern practice in South Carolina began to form around the time Briggs opened his office in Charleston.

With roots growing out of the agricultural traditions of land grant universities, a modern basis for landscape architecture was created when Kenneth Boyd Simmons returned to South Carolina to open his practice in Columbia, South Carolina after returning from World War II.

Kenneth received his bachelor’s degree in horticulture from Clemson College and his master’s degree from the University of Massachus