A close-up of one of the c.4,000 – 5,000 John Brookes plans.
We are excited to announce the Archive of Garden Design’s acquisition of the archive of eminent British landscape designer John Brookes. The archive has been kindly donated by the John Brookes-Denmans Foundation, which manages the beautiful and peaceful Denmans Garden in West Sussex, where John lived, taught and gardened. The Foundation has also generously funded the cataloguing of the material by a project archivist, for which the Archive of Garden Design and the wider Garden Museum team are incredibly grateful.
John Andrew Brookes MBE (1933 – 2018) began his career in landscape design when he secured an assistant designer role at the London practice of Brenda Colvin and Dame Sylvia Crowe in 1956. In 1964 he established his own design practice, and during his impressive career worked on hundreds of projects in Britain, the USA, Japan, and Europe, including Westminster Abbey, Barakura English Garden in Japan and Chicago Botanic Garden. Brookes was also the chairman of the Society of Garden Designers from 1996 to 1999. He shared his expertise through his writing, publishing more than 20 books and teaching at the Inchbald School of Design and Clockhouse School of Design in the UK, along with design schools in Chile, Iran, and Argentina.
John Brookes MBE with his beloved pet pug. Courtesy of the John Brookes Denmans Foundation.
His accolades include the Garden Writers’ Association of America Award of Excellence and four Chelsea Flower Show Gold Medals. He was awarded an MBE for garden design and services to horticulture in 2004; an honorary doctorate by Essex University in 2006; honorary fellowship of the Kew Guild in 2008; and the Garden Media Guild lifetime achievement award in 2011.
Design schools continue to teach Brookes’ principles of viewing the garden as a functional outdoor space and considering the surrounding landscape when planning a new garden. Denmans Garden attracts visitors from all over the world who come to be inspired by the garden Brookes and plantswoman Joyce Robinson created.
Some of the Brookes awards held by the Archive of Garden Design.
The archive material being transferred from Denmans will join the c.4,000 John Brookes plans, and the box of awards received by Brookes for his garden design and writing, which were donated to the Archive of Garden Design in April 2014. The Denmans material includes project files, photographs, administrative papers, writing preparation, teaching materials and plans, and will help us to tell a more rounded story of Brookes’ career.
A preview of some of the John Brookes archive material which will be transferred to the Garden Museum’s Archive of Garden Design.
Having the John Brookes archive reunited in one repository will provide an excellent resource for garden design students, John Brookes aficionados and those fortunate enough to own a John Brookes-designed garden. The John Brookes archive cataloguing is ongoing, and is expected to be completed by February 2028, to coincide with the 10-year anniversary of John’s passing.
If you need access to the Brookes archive in the meantime, feel free to get in touch at archives@gardenmuseum.org.uk and we will do our best to help you. We are also planning an exciting John Brookes archive event in early 2028 – details will be announced in the Garden Museum newsletter closer to the time.
Keep checking our Instagram and TikTok channels for project updates!
