Situated atop the cliffs overlooking the Willamette River in Portland’s Dunthorpe neighborhood, the Elk Rock Garden estate was created by Scottish immigrant and entrepreneur Peter Kerr and is among the oldest and largest intact private gardens in Oregon.
Shortly after arriving in Oregon in 1888, Kerr launched a successful grain business, and in the early 1890s, he used profits from this business to purchase a modest parcel of land. Adding three adjacent lots over the next five years, he increased the site’s total size to over thirteen acres.
In December 1909, Kerr hired landscape architect John Charles Olmsted, who in addition to laying out roads and pedestrian paths for the property, suggested siting for a new main residence that would optimize views of Mount Hood. The previous residence was known as Cliff Cottage (shown below as a foundation for the new residence was being excavated.)
Ellis F. Lawrence, founding dean of the Architecture program at the University of Oregon, was asked to design the new residence.
Once construction was completed in 1916, Kerr (an avid amateur gardener himself) began implementing plans for a sprawling hillside garden.
From 1916 to 1919, Kerr and Olmsted began to realize a picturesque-style garden, utilizing intertwining paths and streams to portray a wild, albeit highly manicured and idealized, version of the natural landscape.
In 1917, Kerr hired Emanuel Mische, a former Olmsted firm plantsman and superintendent of Portland’s public parks. Mische, who trained as a horticulturist at the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England, designed much of the landscape that survives today — with expansive lawns adjacent to the house, and a hillside garden with pathways that take full advantage of views of the Willamette River, the town of Milwaukie, and Elk Rock Island.
While Olmsted’s association with the design ended in 1919, Kerr spent another thirty-eight years meticulously planning and maintaining the garden until his death in 1957. Kerr ultimately planted an eclectic mixture of Scottish species and Pacific Northwest natives.
Historic photos courtesy of the Kerr Family. Kerr property planting plan image courtesy of the National Park Service, Frederick Law Olmsted National Historic Site.