Blake Estate

Considered one of the most important gifts to the University of California, the Blake Estate includes a Spanish style house designed by architect Walter Bliss located on 10-acres of rolling terrain with outcroppings of Lawsonite rock, two creeks, and views of the San Francisco Bay and the Golden Gate. Mrs. Anita Blake and her sister Mabel Symmes are credited with the initial design and major planting of the grounds, which feature a formal grotto and reflecting pool. The estate was donated to the University of California in 1957 for instruction and research in landscape architecture.

The Blake Estate collection spans the years ca. 1922–1998 and contains records documenting its history as the private residence of Anson S. and Anita Blake and later as a teaching resource owned and managed by the University of California, Berkeley, Department of Landscape Architecture, now the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Included are master planning drawings by Geraldine Knight Scott, projects by professional architects and landscape architects, and design projects by landscape architecture students.