Kate Felus

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Kate Felus (born 1971) is a designed-landscape historian. She studied at the University of Warwick and the University of Bristol. Her specialist subject area is the social history of 18th-century gardens and their buildings.

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From 1996 to 2001 Felus was Garden Historian at Stowe, the 18th-century landscape garden, where the National Trust is undertaking a massive restoration programme begun in 1990. Her role included being part of the Stowe Restoration Team, providing specialist research to aid with the production of a series of Conservation Plans that addressed the individual character areas within the formal gardens and wider parkland. The historic research directly influenced and guided a programme of archaeological investigations that were critical to ensuring that the restoration of each character area was accurate and appropriate.

She was a trustee of Hestercombe Gardens surrounding Hestercombe House and has also been involved with buildings conservation both at Stowe and as Project Co-ordinator for the National Trust’s first restoration of a Modernist building, the Erno Goldfinger House at 2 Willow Road, Hampstead.

Recent publications on garden conservation have discussed the landscapes of Blenheim Palace, [1] Dunster Castle, Croome Court and Westbury Court. [2] Her doctoral thesis (University of Bristol, 2009) is entitled "Beautiful objects and agreeable retreats: Uses of Garden Buildings in the designed landscape in 18th-century England".

She is the partner of British sculptor Jon Edgar. She has two sons.

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References

  1. authors, various (2005). HISTORIES OF GARDEN CONSERVATION. Case-studies and critical debates: The Landscape of Blenheim Palace. Three Centuries of Conservation? Colloquio internazionale sulla storia della conservazione dei giardini. Firenze: Olschki. ISBN   88-222-5430-9.
  2. "Looking beyond the Boundaries: Seeing Parks and Gardens in their Wider Landscape – Understanding and Protection", in Giardini Contesto Paesaggio Sistemi Giardini e Architetture Vegetali nel Paesaggio… ed. by L. Pelessetti & L. Scazzosi, (Florence, 2005) ISBN   978-88-222-5483-2

Publications