McDugald – Steele Landscape Architects

This collection consists of correspondence, design documents, planting lists, and photographs that cover the history of the gardens designed for J. Robert Neal in Houston from the initial contact of the Olmsted firm to inquiries by the present owners of the property concerning restoration. The correspondence covers all aspects of the design and furnishing of the gardens, including invoices for irrigation features and detailed lists of columns, urns and vases. There are also letters having to do with the featuring of the gardens in the April 1937 issue of Country Life in America and with planning for an Historic Landscape Report as a preliminary to restoration.