Beginning in the early 1950s, the commercial landscape architecture firm of Wimmer Yamada was regarded as the landscape architecture firm of choice for San Diego’s most progressive architects.
Founded by Harriet Barnhart Wimmer in 1954, the firm was staffed by herself and Joe Yamada, a new Berkeley grad who originally came aboard as a draftsman/apprentice and later became her partner in 1960.
Wimmer Yamada was the first woman-owned landscape architecture firm in San Diego and one of four firms at the time. They worked out of the Fifth Avenue Design Center, ground zero at the time, for many of San Diego’s most notable architects and landscape architects.
Together they made a great team. Wimmer had an excellent education (a bachelor’s from Stanford; landscape architecture, Univ. of Oregon), years of practical experience, and a prosperous postwar clientele. And Yamada, who became an iconic designer in the local community and now retired, brought fresh design ideas and excellent training to the firm.
Read the article featured in the San Diego Downtown News at the link below:
http://sandiegodowntownnews.com/san-diegos-landscape-architecture-pioneers-keep-the-tradition-alive/
