UCLA HANNAH CARTER JAPANESE GARDEN
(Nagao Sakurai and Koichi Kawana, 1959-1961)
10619 Bellagio Road, Los Angeles

The Threat
How You Can Help
About the Garden
Resources
In the News

The Threat

The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden at UCLA. Photo by Judy M. Horton.

Despite public outcry, UCLA has listed the Hannah Carter Japnese Garden for sale at a minimum bid of $5.7 million. The sale does not include any requirements that the historic garden be maintained or preserved.

In November 2011, UCLA first announced plans to sell the garden, citing rising maintenance costs, deferred maintenance, and the lack of attendance due to limited parking. The money generated by the sale of the garden would be used to fund core academic programs.

The decision to sell the garden follows a 2010 court decision that allowed UCLA to remove the “in perpetuity” requirement included within the original donation agreement for the garden in 1964. In mid-January UCLA began removing some objects and artifacts within the garden in anticipation of placing the garden for sale, likely to occur in early February.

Zoned agricultural, the one-and-one-half-acre hillside site could conceivably be redeveloped for a single-family residence, destroying the garden. Currently UCLA is not planning to sell the garden with any protective covenants or requirements calling for it to be maintained or preserved. As a public institution, UCLA is required to accept the highest bid.

The Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden was formed following a public meeting on January 31, 2012 with concerned citizens, members of the Carter family, and representatives from UCLA.

How You Can Help

15-16th century Japanese square stone water basin with Buddhist carving removed from the garden. Photo by UCLA Faculty Association.

The Conservancy is part of the newly-formed Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, working closely with The Garden Conservancy, the California Garden and Landscape History Society, and the Cultural Landscape Foundation, as well as other concerned organizations. We are urging UCLA to ensure the preservation of and continued public access to the garden, as intended and envisioned by the Carter family. We are hopeful that we can work in partnership with UCLA to develop a long-term preservation solution for the garden. Bids on the garden and adjacent residence are due May 22, making it critical that concerned citizens contact UCLA as soon as possible, asking leaders to halt the sale and reject bids.

By May 4, please take a moment to reach out to UCLA Chancellor Gene Block and the University of California Regents and urge them to place this issue on their Board of Regents meeting in mid-May.

1. Sign the petition. Show your support to stop the sale of the garden by signing the petition.

2. Write a letter asking that UCLA stop the sale of the garden, reject bids, and work with the Coalition to secure a public-private partnership to maintain and operate the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden for future generations to both learn from and enjoy. Please send a copy of any correspondence to the Coalition at info@hannahcarterjapanesegarden.com.

UCLA Chancellor's Office
Box 951405, 2147 Murphy Hall
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1405
chancellor@ucla.edu
regentsoffice@ucop.edu

The Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden strongly believes that the garden should be preserved and can be successfully operated and maintained through a public-private partnership, rather than destroyed, a likely outcome of UCLA’s planned sale.

The Coalition's complete position statement (PDF)
The Coalition's letter to the UC Regents (PDF)

Please feel free to use the following points summarizing the Coalition’s advocacy position for your letters to the UCLA Chancellor and Regents:

• The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden is a nationally-significant historic place. The one-and-one-half hillside garden is among the largest and most significant private residential Japanese-style gardens built in the United States in the immediate Post World War II period. It is also associated with two of the most prominent designers of Japanese gardens, Nagao Sakurai and Koichi Kawana.
  
  
• The Hannah Carter Japanese Garden was donated to UCLA in 1964 to be cared for and maintained in perpetuity; UCLA should honor the donors’ intent and terms of the agreement. In September 2010, UCLA went to court to secure permission to remove the “in perpetuity” requirement within the original donation agreement for the garden. At the time of the donation, Mr. Carter agreed to allow UCLA to sell the adjoining residence in the future, clearly stating as his first priority that the money “be used in perpetuity for the maintenance and improvement of the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden.”
  
  
• Selling the garden to the highest bidder without any conditions or protections -- as currently planned by UCLA -- endangers the garden and severely limits its likelihood for survival. As a requirement for selling State-owned property, UCLA must accept the highest bid, regardless of the planned use or intent for the site. Zoned agricultural, the one-and-one-half-acre hillside site could conceivably be redeveloped for a single-family residence, destroying the garden. If sold, at the very least, UCLA should place protective covenants or an easement as a condition of the sale.
  
  
• Gardens and other significant landscapes in Los Angeles and across the nation have been successfully operated, maintained, and preserved through private-public partnerships -- all while serving educational purposes. To date UCLA has not reached out to garden, conservation, or potential friends groups to explore potential partnerships. Despite possible collaborations with Japanese studies and viable strategies to address long-standing parking issues, UCLA claims the garden “serves no academic purpose” and using it “for any public functions is highly problematic.”

About the Garden

A stone carved more than 1,000 years ago showing the Buddha seated in sixteen different postions of worship. Photo by Judy M. Horton.

The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has listed for sale its Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel-Air. Constructed between 1959 and 1961, the one-and-one-half-acre hillside garden is among the largest and most significant private residential Japanese-style gardens built in the United States in the immediate post-World War II period.

Named after the wife of Edward Carter, chairman of the Regents of the University of California who donated the garden to UCLA in 1964, the garden was originally created by Mr. and Mrs. Gordon G. Guiberson following their travels in Japan and in memory of Mr. Guiberson’s garden enthusiast mother. Inspired by the gardens in Kyoto, the UCLA garden embodies the rich legacy of Japanese landscape design with the emphasis on water, stones, and evergreen plants in a naturalistic setting.

Designed by Nagao Sakurai, a noted landscape designer who planned the Imperial Japanese Gardens for the Japanese government at the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco and World’s Fair in New York in 1939, many of the carefully sited rocks, water basins, stone lanterns, carved stones, and pagoda were selected by the Guibersons in Japan and shipped to California.

A stone lantern at the garden. Photo by Judy M. Horton.

The main gate, garden house for tea ceremonies, and family shrine structures were made to order in Kyoto, dismantled, and reassembled at the garden by Japanese artisans. After damage from a mudslide in 1968, Koichi Kawana, a member of the UCLA facilities staff and later a leading designer of Japanese gardens responsible for several important gardens throughout the country, rehabilitated the garden.

While the garden is predominately Japanese in style, it also features a Hawaiian garden with tropical plants and waterfalls, and the influence of its Southern Californian location with native oaks, stones, and plantings, and the incorporation of a patio and barbeque terrace around the site.

Resources

For more information, to get involved, and to join the Coalition to Save the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, email info@hannahcarterjapanesegarden.com.

In the News

Hannah Carter heirs sue UC Regents over planned garden sale. Los Angeles Times . May 8, 2012.

UCLA Violates a Long-Standing Regent's Bequest and Endangers One of the Rarest Private Japanese Garedns in the United States. Huffington Post. May 2, 2012.

UCLA Plans to Sell Its Historic Japanese Garden. KCRW. January 30, 2012.

UCLA's garden spot. Los Angeles Times. January 22, 2012.

UCLA's plan to sell Japanese garden draws criticism. Los Angeles Times. January 22, 2012.

Preservationists decry alteration, sale of UCLA Japanese garden. Los Angeles Times. January 18, 2012.

UCLA moving toward sale of Hannah Carter Japanese Garden in Bel Air. Daily Bruin . January 18, 2012.

UCLA Plans To Sell Historic Garden Rile Preservationists. Beverly Hills Courier. January 18, 2012.

Threatened Garden Alert: The UCLA Hannah Carter Japanese Garden, The Garden Conservancy.

UCLA’s Hannah Carter Japanese Garden Facing Uncertain Future, Cultural Landscape Foundation.

California Garden & Landscape History Society

Early brochure for the Hannah Carter Japanese Garden (PDF)