{"id":253741,"date":"2025-10-27T02:12:10","date_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:12:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/253741\/"},"modified":"2025-10-27T02:12:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-27T02:12:10","slug":"garden-in-downtown-lawrence-alley-dedicated-to-late-architect-the-lawrence-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/253741\/","title":{"rendered":"Garden in downtown Lawrence alley dedicated to late architect \u2013 The Lawrence Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

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When the final remnant tree in back of a downtown Lawrence architecture firm died, staff saw an opportunity to pay homage to their late colleague.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jackson Clark was an architect at Gould Evans for nearly 30 years and had been retired for around 10 when he died at 76 in April 2024<\/a>. Gould Evans recently rebranded to Multistudio, 706 Massachusetts St.<\/p>\n

Robert Whitman, a landscape architect at Multistudio, designed a garden memorializing his former colleague of decades.<\/p>\n

Blue grama grass, Montrose White calamint and Baptisia \u2018American Goldfinch\u2019 are among the varieties now living on the small patch of land.<\/p>\n

\"\"Contributed photo Lawrence landscaping company Gardens and Grass planted trees, shrubs and a variety of other plants.<\/p>\n

Whitman and Clark had shared an affinity for landscaping, sometimes taking their discussions of perennials past work hours.<\/p>\n

\"\"Jackson Clark<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say everyone that works in the office knew how much Jackson loved landscaping,\u201d Whitman said. \u201cHe was an architect, but he was really fond of gardens and trees in particular. He, as I understand it, would assist folks with measuring champion trees. And so when he would go on these tours or these excursions to look at trees; I\u2019d get to hear about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Clark\u2019s wife of 35 years, Brigid Murphy, said she was amazed at how many people told her after Clark passed that he was the closest friend they\u2019d had. A plaque above the garden honors him as a \u201ccolleague, mentor and friend.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was just really touched,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI guess I sometimes thought maybe he was a bit curmudgeonly, and I think even some people at Gould Evans were a little intimidated by him. It\u2019s just gratifying to be shown how much he was appreciated. And, of course, they appreciated him through the years when he had work anniversaries, but it was just a lovely thing. It\u2019s a real tribute to him.\u201d<\/p>\n

John Wilkins, Multistudio principal, and Clark met as freshmen at the University of Kansas in 1980. While Wilkins was a teenager entering his first year there, Clark was at a later point in his life. In 1985, they began their careers together when they were both hired at Gould Evans.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a great resource to many people who were starting their careers, just because on the one hand, he was one of us, but on the other hand, he was a lot more mature than the rest of us,\u201d Wilkins said. \u201cSo he became a great mentor to many people.\u201d<\/p>\n

A \u201creal renaissance man,\u201d as Murphy described him, Clark had vast interests. He was instrumental in building science \u2014 analyzing energy efficiency, indoor air quality and other systemic factors in the firm\u2019s work. <\/p>\n

\"\"Contributed photo Brigid Murphy (center) attends a private reception on Oct. 8, 2025 for a garden at Multistudio, 706 Massachusetts St., dedicated to her late husband, Jackson Clark.<\/p>\n

\u201cJackson had a lot of integrity, and he felt really strongly that buildings should be not just showy but have a lot of integrity in the way they\u2019re built,\u201d Murphy said.<\/p>\n

Close friends celebrated the completion of the garden at a private reception earlier this month. <\/p>\n

Staff members now enter and exit the office each day with a fresh view, and passersby are welcome to watch as seasonal plants bloom across the fall, spring and summer.<\/p>\n

\"\"Contributed photo Robert Whitman<\/p>\n

\"\"Contributed photo Benefitting native pollinators, most plants in the garden are native to the area.<\/p>\n

\"\"Contributed photo A bronze plaque, made by Schurle Signs, is posted on the building near the garden.<\/p>\n

If local news matters to you, please help us keep doing this work.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/p>\n

Maya Hodison (she\/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here<\/a>. Check out her staff bio here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Latest Lawrence news:<\/p>\n

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Kansas Advocates for Better Care is turning 50 years old, and the group is celebrating with a free screening of a documentary that aims to catalyze reform in long-term care facilities for older people.<\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\"\"Nathan Kramer \/ Lawrence Times\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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An upcoming presentation by a museum expert at the Lawrence Public Library will examine the history of redlining in Kansas and its modern-day implications.<\/p>\n

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A Kansas City person was killed and a Lawrence man was seriously injured in a crash on K-10 late Friday in southwestern Lawrence, according to the Kansas Highway Patrol. <\/p>\n

\t\t
\n\t\t\t\"\"Wulfe Wulfemeyer\/Lawrence Times\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

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Not long after the Salty Iguana sign was removed from its former west Lawrence storefront, a second restaurant near Sixth and Wakarusa announced its final day of operation. <\/p>\n

MORE \u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Share this post or save for later When the final remnant tree in back of a downtown Lawrence…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253742,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56],"tags":[228,226,227,229,88],"class_list":{"0":"post-253741","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-artsanddesign","11":"tag-design","12":"tag-entertainment"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253742"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}