Return to glory: Massive restoration project revives Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens

Nearly 10 years ago, Corbin Art Center Director Lynn Mandyke was tromping around the rugged woodland behind the center in Pioneer Park on Spokane’s lower South Hill.

An ice storm in 1996 had brought down a lot of weak timber, and the Spokane parks department won a federal grant to clean and restore woodlands around the city.

Mandyke knew about the old 70-foot concrete basin at the top of the hill and the broken stone walls and staircases scattered along the hillside, but she had never really considered how they got there.

Piqued by the mystery, Mandyke began researching. With the help of others, she discovered the garden ruins were a treasure of Spokane’s past that deserved to be restored if the money was available.

The original gardens were part of an 1889 mansion designed by renowned Spokane architect Kirtland Cutter. The house was torn down in 1940 and the gardens slowly decayed, only to be rediscovered in 1998.

The keys that unlocked the secrets of the gardens were scrapbooks of photographs and other memorabilia kept by Bertha Turner, wife of Judge George Turner. The Turners, the second owners, expanded the grounds as an important backdrop for Turner’s career as an attorney, judge and political figure. In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt greeted the Turners at the home while on a swing through the West.

Bertha Turner’s scrapbooks were donated to the archives at Washington State University, where Mandyke and a researcher found them. They included photographs of the garden at its peak, including some with hand-tinted color. The photos and news articles at the time provided the historical evidence for authentically bringing the gardens back to life.

Replicas built for the project include a two-tiered pergola with mortared basalt columns adjacent to the original concrete pond and waterfall, which were rehabilitated.

Designated on local, state and national historic registers, the site, now known as the Moore-Turner Heritage Gardens, takes its name from the Turners and from F. Rockwood Moore and his wife, the first occupants of the mansion. Moore was the first president of Washington Water Power Co. (now Avista Corp.) and died in 1895.

A master plan based in part on community input was written in 1999 and 2000. The city also hired a consultant in historic preservation and restoration for a cultural landscape report, which called for stabilization and preservation of original ruins and restoration only of features that could be documented historically. As a result, parts of the garden that could not be documented were left as ruins.

Work began in 2005 to stabilize a staircase leading to a dramatic rose arbor as well as an adjoining staircase along a terraced perennial garden.

The project took a big leap forward when an elderly businesswoman and neighbor, Myrtle Woldson, gave $1.2 million in honor of her mother, Edwidge L. Woldson.

Parks spokeswoman Nancy Goodspeed said that plant material was obtained from specialty nurseries throughout the U.S. with priority given to plants used prior to 1915. Among those plants are heritage roses.

The original lilac garden has sprung back to life after portions of its thick wooded canopy were removed, allowing more light to penetrate into the lilac bed. Among the lilacs is one called President Lincoln, easily recognizable by its blue color.

Mature deciduous trees from the original landscape create a transition between the developed garden and native forest.

The setting offers dramatic views to the northeast. A reflection pool with a sculpture mask of the Roman god Faunus spouts a small stream of water in the perennial garden. Other features include a tea house, rose garden, rose arbor, basalt staircases, matching retaining walls, a carriage road and trails.

Touring the grounds will offer insight into the lavish lifestyle of the city’s wealthy pioneers.

“When I started out did I see the garden being completed?” said Mandyke. “I certainly hoped it would be.”