ASLA's Highest Honor Goes to Colorado's First Female L.A.

Jane Silverstein Ries, FASLA

The ASLA Board of Trustees has selected Jane Silverstein Ries, FASLA, to receive the 2005 Medal award, the association's top honor. She will receive the award October 10, 2005 during the ASLA annual meeting, this year in Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Ms. Ries, a graduate of the Lowthorpe School of Landscape architecture in 1929, one of three schools of landscape architecture for women started in the early 1900s, became the first female landscape architect in Colorado. She worked briefly in 1933 with Denver landscape architect Irvin McCrary and then started her own firm, a career that spanned 56 years. Ms. Ries was a designer of urban gardens, private estates and was the creative force behind Denver civic improvement projects, including the Denver Botanical Gardens, the Denver Art Museum and the governor's mansion.

Ms. Ries was clearly a role model for women in landscape architecture, an advocate of sustainable design and of esthetic green spaces in the urban setting.