Maggie Keswick Jencks
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October 10, 1941
Artist
Garden designer
Maggie Keswick Jencks | |
|---|---|
 Statue of Maggie Jencks at Maggie's Centre in Edinburgh | |
| Born | Maggie Keswick October 10, 1941 Cowhill Tower, Holywood, Dumfriesshire, Scotland |
| Died | July 8, 1995 (aged 53) London, England |
| Occupations | Writer Artist Garden designer |
| Years active | 1978–1995 |
| Spouse | Charles Jencks |
| Father | Sir John Keswick |
Margaret Keswick Jencks (10 October 1941 – 8 July 1995)[1] was a Scottish writer, artist and garden designer who co-founded Maggie's Centres with her husband Charles Jencks.[2]
Margaret Keswick was born at Cowhill Tower near Holywood in the county of Dumfriesshire in Scotland[2] the only child of Sir John Keswick and (Celia) Clare Mary Alice (1905-1998), daughter of the tenor Gervase Elwes, and a cousin of the actor Cary Elwes, the Elwes family being landed gentry of Roxby, Lincolnshire.[3][1] Maggie's father was taipan of Jardine Matheson, the influential Scottish–Chinese trading company. The family spent time in Hong Kong and Shanghai as well as the UK.[4] Keswick was educated in England and read English at Lady Margaret Hall, Oxford. After working in fashion, she studied at the Architectural Association in London.
Garden design and collaborations
One of Maggie Jencks's main interests was in garden design.[5] In 1978 she published The Chinese Garden: History, Art and Architecture. She collaborated with her husband on the design of the gardens at Portrack, their family home near Dumfries, Scotland, and on extensive alterations to the house's interior.
Another major collaboration was couple's famous house in Notting Hill, London - open to the public from 2021 as the Cosmic House - designed with the architect Terry Farrell. Her other garden designs included one inspired by the pastoral poems of John Milton for the Jencks' house in California; a collaboration with the American architect Frank Gehry on the Lewis House at Cleveland, Ohio, where fibre-optics and running water created a highly original landscape; and a garden for the film director Roger Corman.[5]
